Emerging Technologies in Education.

Conceiving and Building a Microblogging Platform for

Formal and Informal Learning

Mariana Carmen HOLOTESCU

Scientic Coordinator
Prof.Dr.Ing. Vladimir-Ioan CREU

January 2015
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

University Politehnica Timioara

Doctoral Fundamental Field Engineering Science
PhD. in Computer and Information Technology

Abstract

Over the last years, the growing ubiquity of Social Media, the emerging mobile technologies
and the augmented reality become more deeply integrated into the teaching-learning process and
also create new opportunities for reinventing the way in which educational actors both perceive and
access learning. Major challenges in academia that involve tremendous development and innovation
are blended courses/flipped classrooms integrating Social Media (SM), Open Educational
Resources (OER) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC).
The main aim of this research work is to explore possible solutions for designing and
implementing effective learning environments, founded on new educational technologies, theories
and practices. The expected result is to design, implement and evaluate an innovative educational
platform, called Cirip, based on microblogging technology. The platform is sought to address
emerging technologies and trends in education, to be connected with Social Media networks and
applications, and to be used in formal and informal educational contexts. The Design Based
Research methodology (DBR) has been used for this thesis research and for the development of the
educational platform.
The thesis identifies and analyses new educational technologies, theories and practices;
founded on these findings, a conceptual model of Open Learning Environments is introduced.
There are also presented a review of the features, uses and architectures of educational
microblogging platforms and the results of two studies on the usages, challenges and policies
regarding the integration of emerging technologies and microblogging in Romanian education, for
teaching, learning and professional development.
A model of Open Learning Environments based on microblogging technology is proposed,
which was validated through designing, implementing and evaluating the Cirip educational
microblogging platform, used in a large diversity of formal and informal learning contexts.

Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my coordinator, Prof. Dr. Ing. Vladimir-Ioan Creu, for his long and
continuous support.
Thank you to Gabriela Grosseck and Cristian Armeana, for our wonderful collaboration in
research and projects.
Thanks go also to my family, my reason of being.

Table of Contents
Abstract ................................................................................................................................................ 2
Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................. 3
Abbreviations ....................................................................................................................................... 8
List of Figures ...................................................................................................................................... 9
List of Tables ...................................................................................................................................... 11
Chapter 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 12
1.1. Thesis Context ................................................................................................................... 12
1.2. Thesis Objectives .............................................................................................................. 13
1.3. Thesis Structure ................................................................................................................. 14
Chapter 2. Design Based Research Methodology .............................................................................. 16
2.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 16
2.2. Design Based Research Methodology Definition ............................................................. 16
2.3. Design Based Research Projects ....................................................................................... 18
2.4. Thesis Design Based Research Phases .............................................................................. 19
2.5. Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 20
Chapter 3. Emerging Technologies and new Trends in Education. State of the Art .......................... 21
3.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 21
3.2. The Social Media Landscape ............................................................................................ 21
3.2.1. Defining Social Media ...........................................................................................21
3.2.2. Web2.0 ...................................................................................................................22
3.2.3. Social Objects ........................................................................................................23
3.2.4. A Typology of Social Media ..................................................................................23
3.2.5. Microblogging .......................................................................................................24
3.3. Trends and technologies connected with Social Media .................................................... 25
3.3.1. eLearning2.0/Social Learning/Informal Learning .................................................26
3.3.2. Open Educational Resources .................................................................................27
3.3.3. Learning Design ....................................................................................................28
3.3.4. Social Learning Management Systems..................................................................28
3.3.5. Personal Learning Environments...........................................................................29
3.3.6. Mobile Learning ....................................................................................................30
3.3.7. Digital Curation .....................................................................................................30
3.3.8. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) ...............................................................31
3.3.9. Learning Analytics .................................................................................................33
3.3.10. Blended Learning/Flipped Classrooms ...............................................................33
3.3.11. Augmented Reality ..............................................................................................34
3.3.12. Open Educational Practices and New Learning Theories ...................................34
3.4. A Conceptual Model for Open Learning Environments.................................................... 37
3.4.1. Classification of learning environments integrating new technologies .................39
3.4.2. An Open Learning Environment based on Microblogging ...................................41
3.5. Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 41
3.5.1. Contributions .........................................................................................................42
Chapter 4. Features, Uses and Architectures of Educational Microblogging Platforms.................... 43
4.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 43
4.2. Microblog and Microblogging Definitions ....................................................................... 43
4.3. A brief history of the Microblogging term ........................................................................ 44
4.4. Classifications ................................................................................................................... 45
4.5. Microblogging Platforms used in Education ..................................................................... 46
4.5.1.Twitter .....................................................................................................................46
4.5.2. Edmodo ..................................................................................................................49
4

4.5.3. Plurk.......................................................................................................................50
4.5.4. Yammer ..................................................................................................................50
4.5.5. Identi.ca .................................................................................................................51
4.5.6. Twiducate ...............................................................................................................51
4.5.7. Other Microblogging Platforms.............................................................................52
4.6. Educational Uses of Microblogging in terms of opportunities, contexts, challenges,
advantages and limits / risks..................................................................................................... 54
4.6.1. Educational opportunities ......................................................................................54
4.6.2. Didactical context ..................................................................................................54
4.6.3. Research context ....................................................................................................55
4.6.4. Potential disadvantages..........................................................................................56
4.6.5. Challenging advantages .........................................................................................57
4.7. Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 58
4.7.1. Contributions .........................................................................................................58
Chapter 5. Emerging Technologies in Romanian Higher Education ................................................. 59
5.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 59
5.2. Research Methodology. Objectives and questions ............................................................ 59
5.3. Summary of findings ......................................................................................................... 59
5.4. Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 67
5.4.1. Contributions .........................................................................................................68
Chapter 6. Requirements analysis for an educational multimedia microblogging platform ............. 69
6.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 69
6.2. Identifying the functionalities of Social Media platforms ................................................ 69
6.3. Comparing Social Media platforms ................................................................................. 70
6.4. Requirements Specification............................................................................................... 75
6.5. Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 78
6.5.1. Contributions .........................................................................................................78
Chapter 7. Platform Architecture and Implementation ...................................................................... 79
7.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 79
7.2. Technologies ...................................................................................................................... 79
7.3. Architecture ....................................................................................................................... 79
7.4. Database ............................................................................................................................ 83
7.5. API ..................................................................................................................................... 84
7.6. Plugins and Mashups ......................................................................................................... 86
7.7. Platform development phases............................................................................................ 87
7.8. Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 88
Chapter 8. Platform as an Open Learning Environment .................................................................... 89
8.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 89
8.2. Learning Management Features ........................................................................................ 89
8.2.1. Cirip as a course environment (Social LMS) ........................................................90
8.3. Mobile Learning Features ................................................................................................. 92
8.3.1. M3-learning features ..............................................................................................93
8.3.2. Pedagogical uses of m3-learning on Cirip .............................................................98
8.4. Social Objects as (little) Open Educational Resources ................................................... 100
8.4.1. Social and Multimedia Objects............................................................................100
8.4.2. Types of multimedia objects ................................................................................101
8.4.3. Multimedia objects for digital storytelling ..........................................................102
8.4.4. Advantages and limits of using multimedia objects in teaching-learning ...........104
8.5. Learning Design Objects and Scenarios .......................................................................... 104
8.5.1. Learning design objects in microblogging context: a group for sharing educational
5

strategies ........................................................................................................................104
8.5.2. Learning design for academic courses. Bloom Taxonomy for Cirip activities ...106
8.6. Learning Analytics and Assessment Facilities .................................................................111
8.6.1. Projects for Social Media Assessment ................................................................. 111
8.6.2. Indicators for interactions in microblogging communities ................................. 113
8.6.3. A Set of Microblogging Metrics for Student Assessment....................................120
8.7. Conclusions ..................................................................................................................... 122
8.7.1. Contributions .......................................................................................................123
Chapter 9. Case Studies for Platform Validation ............................................................................. 125
9.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 125
9.2. Online Courses and Courses Enhancement ..................................................................... 127
9.2.1. Course Virtual Space Group Facilities .............................................................127
9.2.2. Participation in Discussions.................................................................................129
9.2.3. Collaborative Activities .......................................................................................130
9.2.4. Remarks about the Learning Community ............................................................136
9.2.5. Aspects related to course facilitation ...................................................................138
9.3. Learning from the Stream ............................................................................................... 140
9.3.1. Microblogging as a backchannel solution ...........................................................140
9.3.2. Framework ...........................................................................................................141
9.3.3. Content for student activities ...............................................................................142
9.3.4. Students' activities ..............................................................................................143
9.4. Integrating MOOCs in Blended Courses ........................................................................ 145
9.4.1. Blended Learning and MOOCs ...........................................................................145
9.4.2. Methodology........................................................................................................146
9.4.3. Research goals .....................................................................................................147
9.4.4. Research methods ................................................................................................147
9.4.5. Summary of data evaluating MOOC participation ..............................................148
9.4.6. Discussions ..........................................................................................................149
9.5. Teacher Training .............................................................................................................. 151
9.5.1. Phases of teacher training ....................................................................................151
9.5.2. SWOT analysis for teachers education ...............................................................152
9.6. Personal Learning Environment ...................................................................................... 155
9.6.1. Three-Anagram's Approach to Cirip PLE Framework ........................................156
9.7. Conclusions ..................................................................................................................... 157
9.7.1. Contributions .......................................................................................................157
Chapter 10. Platform Evaluation ...................................................................................................... 159
10.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 159
10.2. Study of Learning Impact .............................................................................................. 159
10.2.1. Research goals and methods ..............................................................................159
10.2.2. Data analysis ......................................................................................................161
10.3. Study of Professional Development Impact .................................................................. 163
10.3.1. Study Methodology ...........................................................................................165
10.3.2. Findings .............................................................................................................166
10.4. Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 173
10.4.1. Contributions .....................................................................................................173
Chapter 11. Conclusions and Future Work ...................................................................................... 174
11.1. Original contributions .................................................................................................... 174
11.2. Dissemination, recognitions and awards ....................................................................... 175
11.3. Future work ................................................................................................................... 176
References ........................................................................................................................................ 177
6

Appendix: Publications and Projects ............................................................................................... 203

a. Articles ................................................................................................................................ 203
ISI Proceedings ..............................................................................................................203
BDI ................................................................................................................................205
International Journals ....................................................................................................206
International Conferences Proceedings .........................................................................206
National Conferences / Journals ....................................................................................208
b. Books/Chapters .................................................................................................................. 209
c. Research studies/Reports .................................................................................................... 210
d. Projects ............................................................................................................................... 211
e. Citations .............................................................................................................................. 213

Abbreviations

API: Application Programming Interface

AR: Augmented Reality
DBR: Design Based Research
DC: Digital Curation
FLOSS: Free and Open Source Software
IM: Instant messaging
JSON: JavaScript Object Notation
LA: Learning Analytics
LD: Learning Design
LMS: Learning Management System
MOOC: Massive Open Online Course
msLMS: Mobile Social Learning Management System
OA: Open Access
OEP: Open Educational Practices
OER: Open Educational Resources
OLE: Open Learning Environment
PLE: Personal Learning Environment
PLN: Personal Learning Network
REST: Representational State Transfer
RSS: Really Simple Syndication (Rich Site Summary)
SM: Social Media
sLMS: Social Learning Management System
SWOT: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
VLE: Virtual Learning Environment

List of Figures
Figure 2.1. DBR: Refinement of problems, solutions, methods and design principles ..................... 17
Figure 2.2. Predictive Research (Herrington et al., 2007) ................................................................. 17
Figure 2.3. Design Based Research phases for Cirip development ................................................... 19
Figure 3.1. Technology enhanced learning ( Siemens and Tittenberg, 2009) .................................... 36
Figure 3.2. Use case for an Open Learning Environment .................................................................. 39
Figure 5.1. Users of Social Media platforms ..................................................................................... 62
Figure 7.1. Technologies .................................................................................................................... 79
Figure 7.2. MVC Architecture ........................................................................................................... 80
Figure 7.3. Platform Components ...................................................................................................... 82
Figure 7.4. Database tables ................................................................................................................ 83
Figure 7.5. Relations between tables ................................................................................................. 84
Figure 7.6. Message at cirip.ro/status/27551230 and the corresponding JSON format..................... 86
Figure 7.7. Plugings and mash-ups as a mindmap. Note at http://www.cirip.ro/status/3113278 ...... 87
Figure 8.2.1. A group hosting a blended course ................................................................................. 91
Figure 8.3.1. Mobile Learning features as a LD object ..................................................................... 92
Figure 8.3.2. Dashboard section for creating a dynamic command ................................................... 93
Figure 8.3.3. Dashboard for a mobile group ...................................................................................... 96
Figure 8.3.4. Quiz for participants at the end of a course - http://www.cirip.ro/sondaj/7 ................. 98
Figure 8.4.1. Multimedia objects included in messages mindmap at cirip.ro/status/3109554 ..... 103
Figure 8.5.1. Learning Design object specifying how LD group works .......................................... 106
Figure 8.5.2. Learning scenarios proposed for a course .................................................................. 108
Figure 8.5.3. Learning activities design model, source http://www.cirip.ro/status/2497482 .......... 109
Figure 8.5.4. A part of a CompendiumLD scenario ......................................................................... 110
Figure 8.5.5. The corresponding Cirip LD object obtained with CompendiumLD2CiripLD ......... 110
Figure 8.6.1. Tops page on Cirip.eu ................................................................................................. 114
Figure 8.6.2. Network covering for the user cami13, http://twitter-friends.com/?user=cami13 ..... 115
Figure 8.6.3. Visual representation with Twitter-Friend for the Twitter account @cami13 ............ 115
Figure 8.6.4. Network of a Cirip.eu user ......................................................................................... 116
Figure 8.6.5. Cirip.eu group development network for the microblogging course .......................... 116
Figure 8.6.6. The group tag cloud of the microblogging course ...................................................... 117
Figure 8.6.7. Map section ................................................................................................................ 118
Figura 8.6.8. Timeline of a microblog on Cirip.eu .......................................................................... 119
Figure 8.6.9. Statistics for the user @gabriela (source: Network section of cirip.ro/u/gabriela) ... 122
Figure 9.1.1. Learning contexts on the platform; note at http://www.cirip.ro/status/1629510 ........ 125
Figure 9.2.1. Group news, http://www.cirip.ro/grup/cursmb ........................................................... 128
Figure 9.2.2. Group Members section (42 members) ...................................................................... 129
Figure 9.2.3. Group Tagcloud .......................................................................................................... 130
Figure 9.2.4. Tagcloud created with Wordle, http://www.flickr.com/photos/cami13/2573662470 . 131
Figure 9.2.5. Timeline of different teaching platforms for academic courses ................................. 132
Figure 9.2.6. Social publishing sites like Scribd (left) or Lulu (right) used in academic courses ... 133
Figure 9.2.7. Examples of media information ................................................................................. 133
Figure 9.2.8. Example of collaborative exercise to define a concept / a term with NotaLand tool 135
Figure 9.2.9. Examples of team projects exercise to translate a videoclip (using GoogleDocs) ..... 136
Figure 9.2.10. Anatomy of a microblogging course as a mindmap ................................................. 139
Figure 9.2.11. Elements of constructing social learning environments on Cirip ............................. 140
Figure 9.3.1. The first message in the PLE group, source: http://cirip.ro/status/2180463 .............. 142
Figure 9.3.2. Group statistics and Feeds related to PLE .................................................................. 142
Figure 9.3.3. Group Tagcloud and search facility ............................................................................ 144
Figure 9.3.4. Message sent by a student, embedding a slideshare presentation .............................. 144
9

Figure 9.4.1. Course group on Cirip: members, number of messages and the tags used ............... 147
Figure 9.4.2. Distribution of students .............................................................................................. 149
Figure 9.5.1. Learning contexts on the microblogging platform .................................................... 153
Figure 9.6.1. PLE on Cirip.eu .......................................................................................................... 156
Figure 10.3.1. Respondents by academic position ........................................................................... 166
Figure 10.3.2. Microblogging platforms used by responders .......................................................... 167
Figure 10.3.3. Followed users and followers ................................................................................... 168
Figure 10.3.4. Use of microblogging in research by different didactic profiles .............................. 170

10

List of Tables
Table 2.1. DBR Projects in terms of the designed artifact/environment and resultant theory ........... 18
Table 3.1. Social Media networks and applications for content sharing ............................................ 24
Table 3.2. Social Media for communication/collaboration/location-based ....................................... 24
Table 3.3. Emerging technologies in education as reported by the Horizon Project 2008-2015 ....... 25
Table 3.4. Open Educational Approaches - based on (Geser, 2007) .................................................. 36
Table 3.5. Characteristics of Open Learning Environments .............................................................. 37
Table 5.1. Distribution of respondents by age ................................................................................... 60
Table 5.2. Social Media Usage ........................................................................................................... 61
Table 5.3. Platforms for Communication/Collaboration/Location-based .......................................... 62
Table 5.4. Are the following statements true for you? ....................................................................... 63
Table 5.5. Do you use Social Media for the following activities? ..................................................... 64
Table 5.6. Levels of Communication/Collaboration .......................................................................... 64
Table 5.7. Contextual conditions in which scholars use Social Media .............................................. 64
Table 6.1. Social Media Platforms Comparison (a) ........................................................................... 72
Table 6.2. Social Media Platforms Comparison (b) ........................................................................... 74
Table 6.3. Requirements Specifications ............................................................................................. 75
Table 6.4. Microblogging Platform characteristics mapped onto the features of an OLE ................. 76
Table 7.6. Cirip development phases ................................................................................................. 88
Table 8.3.1. m3-learning framework .................................................................................................. 95
Table 8.3.2. Text messages and specific actions ................................................................................ 96
Table 8.3.3. A preliminary feedback from the students...................................................................... 98
Table 8.5.1. Bloom taxonomy rewritten for the on-line environment of Cirip ................................ 107
Table 9.1.1. Educational activities on Cirip ..................................................................................... 126
Table 9.2.1. Anatomy of a microblogging course ............................................................................ 138
Table 9.4.1. Variants of blending MOOCs in university courses ..................................................... 146
Table 9.4.2. Blended course activities and pedagogical benefits ..................................................... 150
Table 10.2.1. Courses demographics ............................................................................................... 160
Table 10.2.2. Uses of Cirip features ................................................................................................. 162
Table 10.3.1. Romanian edu-microsphere in 2011........................................................................... 165
Table 10.3.2. Distribution of respondents by age ............................................................................ 166
Table 10.3.3. How researchers are making use of languages........................................................... 168
Table 10.3.4. Social Media experience ............................................................................................ 169
Table 10.3.5. Microblogging usages ................................................................................................ 169
Table 10.3.6. Mode of research work ............................................................................................... 170
Table 10.3.7. Contextual conditions in which scholars use microblogging ..................................... 170

11

Chapter 1. Introduction
The term eLearning was coined by Jay Cross in 1998: eLearning is learning on Internet Time,
the convergence of learning and networks (Cross, 2004); in the same year SmartForce defined
itself as an "e-Learning Company", Cisco spoke about E-Learning, while eLearning (without
hyphen) was used in 2000 in the "eLearning - Designing Tomorrow's Education" documents of the
European Commission.
My fascinating journey in the eLearning world started at the end of 2000, when I was a
participant in the online workshop having as topic online facilitation, organized by University of
Maryland University College (UMUC), becoming a certified Online Instructor, and then
collaborating with UMUC for 12 years.
On the virtual platform for online courses/workshops I developed in Perl in 2001, two online
workshops were run in 2002, being facilitated together with Jane Knight (Hart) from
eLearningCentre UK. The workshops gathered more than 150 experts/participants from five
continents (Medium Open Online Workshops), the topics proposed to be debated for a week were
Online Communities and Methodologies in eLearning (Holotescu and Knight, 2002a; Holotescu
and Knight, 2002b). Among the experts who took part in the workshops, there were the well-known
founders of the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) phenomenon in 2008, Stephen Downes and
George Siemens.
Since then, my enthusiastic work in the eLearning and online collaboration domains has
included the development of virtual spaces extended with Web2.0 features/ mashups, involvement
in many European projects, online/blended courses delivered for universities and institutions, many
articles, books and citations. I have been continuously learning together with my students and the
peers in my Personal Learning Network, practitioners from worldwide.
This thesis is the result of my research work conducted since 2008, related to open education,
Microblogging, Social Media and other connected emerging technologies in education.

1.1. Thesis Context

Over the last years, the growing ubiquity of Social Media, the emerging mobile technologies
and the augmented reality become more deeply integrated into the teaching-learning process and
also create new opportunities for reinventing the way in which educational actors both perceive and
access learning. Major challenges in academia that involve tremendous development and innovation
are blended courses/flipped classrooms integrating Social Media (SM), Open Educational
Resources (OER) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) (Johnson et al., 2014).
Many articles and studies present innovative approaches in higher education that have been
supported by Social Media (Conole and Alevizou, 2010; Hamid, Chang and Kurnia, 2011). Blogs,
microblogs, social networks, media sharing sites, social bookmarking, wikis, social aggregation and
virtual worlds are used increasingly by students and teachers in the teaching-learning process, in
research and in professional development, for communication and collaboration, for sharing
resources or for building Personal Learning Environments.

12

As the classic Learning Management Systems (LMS) are considered too inflexible, offering
an instructivist model of education, solutions are studied and tested for a constructivist approach,
centered on student and linking his/her learning needs with pedagogy and technology. There are
many projects and implementations of integrated platforms, in which the social functionality
becomes available inside the LMS, thus speaking about LMS2.0, social LMS, Open Learning
Environments or Social Learning Environments (Crosslin, 2010; Dahrendorf, 2010; Mott, 2010;
JISC, 2011).
In spite of effective learning opportunities, the new technologies are embrassed by a limited
number of teachers/facilitators and universities, and is still a gap between the implied technological
and pedagogical aspects. The main reasons for this gap are represented by:
rigid policies in formal education related to curricular systems and assessment practices;
teachers lack of time and interest to explore, understand, evaluate and use new technologies
in teaching-learning process (Conole and Culver, 2010);
usually scenarios for innovative approaches and best cases are presented in a too formal
manner using Learning Design languages and tools, which are difficult to understand by the
large mass of educators and also there is not a direct link between these scenarios and
learning environments (Conole, 2010).

1.2. Thesis Objectives

The main aim of our research work is to explore possible solutions for designing and
implementing effective learning environments, founded on new learning technologies and theories.
The expected result is to design, implement and evaluate an innovative educational platform,
called Cirip, based on microblogging technology.
The platform is sought to address emerging technologies and trends in education, to be
connected with Social Media networks and applications, and to be used in formal and informal
educational contexts.
Therefore, our research aims are:
1. to identify and to analyse emerging technologies, trends and theories in education;
2. to elicit the needed features of an open learning platform, founded on the identified
technologies and theories;
3. to create and validate a model for the development of effective open learning platforms
based on microblogging technology.
Selecting microblogging as the base technology for the learning platform, actually the
answers and solutions for the following issues and problems represent the thesis objectives:
1. to map the requirements of the microblogging framework onto the features of an open
learning platform;
2. to integrate microblogging with other emerging educational technologies;
3. to give students, teachers and practitioners a space to explore and experiment new
technologies,
4. to capture and formally represent the new pedagogical approaches and scenarios as learning
design objects;

13

5. to define and implement instruments for learning analytics and for assessing students
learning activities;
6. to conceive, to design and to build a microbloging platform for formal and informal
learning.
Our findings are presented in this thesis, focused on the implementation, usages and
evaluation of the educational microblogging platform, but also on the new open pedagogies
approaches, which can be used and extended on other educational environments and contexts.

1.3. Thesis Structure

The thesis is structured in eleven chapters presented below.
This chapter is introductory and sets the subject matter in context.
Chapter two deals with the research approach. It explores the Design Based Research
methodology (DBR) and justifies its use for this thesis research and for the development of the
educational platform. The introductive part of each of the next chapters makes the connections with
the DBR phases, explaining the place of their topics in the DBR iterative process.
Chapter three contains the literature review that identifies and analyses the emerging
technologies, trends and theories in education. It presents an original classification of Social Media
applications and platforms. Also we elicit here the needed features and a conceptual model of open
learning environments, based on the identified technologies and theories.
An extensive literature review on Microblogging, one of the top emerging technologies of the
moment, and its oportunities in education can be found in Chapter four.
An image on how new educational technologies are used in Romanian universities, as a
result of a study we have carried out, is depicted in Chapter five.
In Chapter six, the conclusions of the two literature reviews and of the study mentioned
above will serve to define the requirements of an educational microblogging platform mapped onto
the features of the model of open learning environment defined in Chapter three.
Chapter seven reports on the solutions found for the architecture and implementation of the
Cirip educational microblogging platform. Also its API, mashups and plugins are described here.
Chapter eight focuses on the implementation and usages of Cirip as an Open Learning
Environment (Mobile Social Learning Management System - msLMS), addressing:
Learning Management features,
Mobile Learning features,
how Social Objects are integrated as (small) Open Educational Resources in the platform
flowstream,
how Learning Scenarios can be specified as Learning Design objects, and also
the facilities for student Assessment.
During the last seven years the Cirip platform has being used in many educational projects
based on Open Educational Practices, the most interesting being exposed in Chapter nine:
Online Courses and Courses Enhancement in high schools and universities,
14

Learning from the Stream,

MOOCs integration in Blended Courses,
Teacher Training, and also
Developing Personal Learning Environments.

Each case study discusses the specific features offered by other microblogging platforms for
that particular usage and also the advantages and possible drawbacks of Cirip. Also each case study
represents an iteration and an improvement of the environment developed using the DBR approach.
The platform and each case study were evaluated and validated by students and teachers
who have used the microblogging platform during courses, for research and for personal
development, the results being the subject of the two studies presented in Chapter ten.
The final conclusions are drawn in Chapter eleven, together with the presentation of the
original contributions and future developments. The chapter contains also the dissemination and
awards/recognitions of the doctoral program results.
A large list of actual references studied for this thesis, our publications, projects and citations
can be found in this work too.

15

Chapter 2. Design Based Research Methodology

2.1. Introduction
The Cirip educational microblogging platform was developed using the Design Based
Research (DBR) methodology approach. This methodology is presented in this chapter, together
with its adaptation for our platform development.

2.2. Design Based Research Methodology Definition

The Design Based Research (DBR) methodology was defined and developed since the middle
of the 1990s, as a response to the need for a research approach that addresses complex problems in
educational practice, for which no clear guidelines for solution are available (Barab, 2006). In the
fields of educational technologies and learning sciences, becoming more complex with the plethora
of new technologies, the research paradigms that examine learning processes within laboratory
settings would produce incomplete understanding of their relevance in more naturalistic settings
(Figure 2.2). In this context, DBR was defined such as researchers would systematically and
interativelly adjust various aspects of the designed environment so that each change served as a type
of experimentation that allowed the researchers to test and generate theory in naturalistic settings,
incorporating strong involvement of the end user (Barab and Squire, 2004; Reimann, 2013).
The DBR is perceived as the systematic study of designing, developing and evaluating
educational interventions - such as programs, teaching-learning strategies and materials, products
and systems as solutions to such problems, which also aims at advancing our knowledge about the
characteristics of these interventions and the processes to design and develop them (Plomp and
Nieveen, 2007). DBR requires providing local warrants for the effectiveness of the design work
while simultaneously attempting to contribute to a larger body of theory (Barab and Squire, 2004).
Increasingly applied in educational software projects, Design Based Research (DBR) is used
to study learning in environments which are designed and systematically changed by the
researcher (Barab, 2006), this way three deeply intertwined goals can be identified: research,
design, and pedagogical practice (Joseph, 2004).
Reimann (2013) shows that DBRs main focus is on innovations in teaching and learning that
pertain; due to the large usage of the new technologies and Social Media in education, many DBR
studies have had an additional focus on technological innovation.
DBR requires a collaboration of a multi-disciplinary team because the design/development
and the research aspects of theories of learning, including teachers learning are of equal importance
(Reimann, 2013).
The DBR methodology has the following characteristics (Barab and Squire, 2004; Barab,
2006):
object of the close study: (usually) a single learning environment which passes through
successive iterations and is used in different contexts;
goals: to develop new pedagogical theories, artifacts and practices that can be
generalized and used in other learning contexts/environments; to generate new theories
and frameworks for conceptualizing learning, instruction, design processes, and
educational reform;
phases:
o the learning environment is designed and developed by researchers to solve a
local/particular identified problem, bringing innovations inspired by a theoretical
16

study/research; even if the environment aims at solving a local problem and

proving its usefulness/effectiveness, the design work follows the goal of new
theory generation;
o then successive phases in an iterative cycle/on-going design process allowing the
generation and advancement of the new theory:
improvement/development of new facilities;
tests piloted in real-world educational settings, which involve informal
learning, collaboration among learners, different resources, etc.;
evaluation implying social interactions with participants for sharing ideas,
and for bringing their expertise into producing and analysing the design.
The DBR process has different representations (Plomp and Nieveen, 2007). Figure 2.1 specifies
the way Reeves (2006) depicted the four connected phases:
analysis,
development of solutions,
iterative cycles of testing and refining solutions, and
reflection to produce design principles.

Figure 2.1. DBR: Refinement of problems, solutions, methods and design principles (Reeves, 2006)
Figure 2.2 illustrates the predictive research studies that have beeing used in educational
technology reseach for decades (Herrington et al., 2007). This way the differences between the two
approaches can be noted: a strong connection and collaboration between researchers and
practitioners for DBR, while for the predictive research they work separately in different phases;
also the end users are implied in the iterative cycles used by DRB, while for the predictive research
they test only the final product.

Figure 2.2. Predictive Research (Herrington et al., 2007)

17

DRB has three theoretical influences: experimental educational psychology, design research
and participatory software development methods (Reimann, 3013). DBR is a common label for
related research approaches, such as design studies, design experiments, design research,
developmental research, formative research, engineering research or educational design research
(Plomp and Nieveen, 2007; McKenney and Reeves, 2012).
There are many similarities between Design Based Research (DBR) and Agile Software
Development, both paradigms being defined before the 2000s (Burn, 2013; Creu, 2010):
are flexible and responsive
imply iterative and incremental development
involve users / costumers
have rapid and flexible response to change
working environment / software is delivered and used in all phases of the project.

2.3. Design Based Research Projects

There are many articles and studies that describe in sufficient detail how DBR is done in
practice (Jacobson and Reimann, 2010; Luckin et al., 2013). In Table 2.1 four projects developed
using DBR are presented. There are specified both the local impact of the work as well as the
resultant theoretical contributions.
Table 2.1. DBR Projects in terms of the designed artifact/environment and resultant theory
Projects / Research
study
Cloudworks: a social
network for finding,
sharing and discussing
learning and
teaching ideas and
designs (Conole and
Culver, 2010)

Implementation of an
online professional
development course
for higher education
practitioners based on
authentic learning
principles (Parker et
al., 2013)

Build a reformed
Software Engineering

Local impact

Theoretical work

An active social network for

teachers / practitioners continuing
professional development, to
explore and experiment, and
provide them with scaffolds,
support and examples of how
technologies have been used to
good effect in a range of different
educational contexts. Clouds are
core social objects.

Richer understanding of
the challenges and
demonstrating how Social
Media can be used in
finding, sharing and
discussing learning and
teaching ideas and designs.
Design patterns based on
the notions of social
objects and the concept of
design for sociality.
Providing possible
solutions for
designing and
implementing effective
online higher education
courses, based on a social
constructivist model of
learning.

Provide university professionals

with the opportunity to
experience online learning from a
student perspective, learn how to
use authentic learning
guidelines to design their own
courses, explore how new
technologies
could be used to support student
learning, and use social
media to collaborate with their
peers.
Completely rethink the contents,
structures and pedagogical

Demonstrating that a
renewed SE curriculum
18

subtrack within
Computer Science
curriculum
(Luukkainen et al.,
2012)

practices of the existing courses,

introducing up-to-date industrial
best practices. Include new
courses in SE curriculum.
Increase students learning,
programming and team working
skills, and readiness to start
working
as a "junior software developer"
in the software engineering
industry.
CLUE (convergent
Student learning and attitudinal
learning in a
gains using informal experiences.
ubiquitous
Building learning communities
environment)
active inside and outside
Framework: a learning classroms.
environment for
Plan learning process and
connecting learners
activities in class that integrate
experiences in real
informal experiences.
informal settings with
formal school settings
(Heo et al., 2013)

demands new studentcentered teaching methods,

renewed ways of
presenting old content and
new ways of organizing
administration.

Demonstrating how
ubiquitous computing
technologies can assist the
integration of informal
experiences in formal
learning by capturing
individuals feelings and
thoughts in the real world
and connecting to
systematic school learning.
Teachers also need to be
aware of the importance of
informal experiences in
students lives and the
ways to combine them into
the school curriculum.

2.4. Thesis Design Based Research Phases

The main aim of our research work was to design and implement an innovative educational
microblogging platform, called Cirip, which can be used for formal and informal learning. The
framework development used the Design Based Research methodology (DBR), presented before.
The four connected phases of DBR defined by Reeves (2006) (Figure 2.1) were adapted for the
educational microblogging platform development (Figure 2.3):

Figure 2.3. Design Based Research phases for Cirip development

19

The DBR phases are summarized below and will be presented in the next chapters:
Phase 1:
One of the thesis research objectives was to extensively review the literature on Social
Media and Microblogging (together with variants for architecture implementation), and to identify
the connected emerging technologies/trends, and their oportunities in education Chapters three
and four.
Another important scope was to study how the Romanian educational actors integrate Social
Media in teaching/learning process, in research and in personal development, this way articulating
the emerging technologies, also their advantages and disadvantages Chapter five.
Phase 2:
In an iterative cycle, the results and conclusions of the first phase were used to define the
requirements of the educational microblogging platform Chapter six.
For the iterative and incremental prototypes of the platform the architecture, implementation
and features are presented in Chapters seven and eight.
Phase 3:
The platform is used in many formal and informal learning settings, presented in Chapter
nine, implying an important number of courses, students and teaching staff, at different levels of
educational levels.
Phase 4:
The platform usefulness and impact in different educational contexts are evaluated, the
conclusions being used for the platform iterative development and improvement Chapter ten.
In developing the platform we have used our intensive, enthusiastic and long experience in
working with and developing educational platforms, as a researcher, developer and also as a
designer and facilitator of online and blended courses.
In order to evaluate and improve the platform we have worked in a close collaboration with a
small multidisciplinary team, consisting of teachers and practitioners in Computer Science and
Social Sciences, who appear as co-authors of the published studies (listed in Appendix).

2.5. Conclusions
The chapter focuses on the definition and phases of the Design Based Research (DBR)
methodology, presenting its increasing application in educational software projects with
pedagogical and technological innovations, also its similarities with Agile Software Development.
The DBR methodology adaptation for Cirip development is presented too (Figure 2.3). The
introductive part of each of the next chapters will make the connections with the DBR phases.

20

Chapter 3. Emerging Technologies and new Trends in Education. State of the

Art

3.1. Introduction
This chapter is a literature review of Emerging Technologies and new Trends in Education,
being part of the first phase of the Design Based Research approach (Figure 2.3).
It defines Social Media, presenting an original classification of Social Media applications and
platforms, and identifies and describes the connected emerging technologies and trends, also their
oportunities in education.
To be able to design the microblogging platform it was necessary to understand the challenges
brought to education by Social Media and emerging technologies, and the models of the new
learning environments. So we propose here a conceptual model for open learning environments,
founded on the identified technologies and theories.

3.2. The Social Media Landscape

In this era of fundamental changes in education brought by virtual worlds and augmented
reality, dominated by mobile devices and applications, in order for Learning2.0 to occur, it is
necessary to rethink the academic work environments based on Web2.0 technologies, in accordance
with the (pedagogical) learning needs of students. In this context we discuss some of the challenges
which occur in integrating Social Media in the teaching / learning process, and the ways to respond
to them via pedagogical approaches that help students transform the Social Media universe in
reflective practice.
In a so-called ubiquitous network society, it seems only natural that the technologies
supporting the worlds largest network of networks become one of the main topics for reflection and
educational practice, as well as a focus of graduate and/or postgraduate studies. Nowadays
educators from all over the world are spending more and more time within this new form of social
reality.
The current debates on whether or not to introduce social web technologies into higher
education are useful, but ultimately worthless without experience, creativity and innovation the
desire to think of the educational process in completely new terms. Even the new web is a source of
intellectual optimism, a fact of life, and an increasingly fact of learning, this does not mean that the
things we have learned so far need to be buried and forgotten. We need to remember that we are at
the beginning of a new era and, inevitably, at the end of another one an era of change, the Social
Web Era.
3.2.1. Defining Social Media
Social Media is a generic term covering a large range of online platforms and applications
which allow users to communicate, collaborate, interact and share data. Thus, Social Media
encompass easily-accessible web instruments that individuals can use in order to talk about,
participate in, create, recommend and take advantage of information, in addition to providing online
reactions to everything that is happening around them.
There are many definitions of Social Media, and they are evolving in time, as Brian Solis
(2010) underlined it in his post Defining Social Media: 2006 2010.

21

According to Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) Social Media is a group of Internet-based

applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow
the creation and exchange of user generated content, the authors signaling the confusion of the
terms such as Social Media, Web2.0 and user generated content among managers and academic
researchers. In her Social Learning Handbook, Jane Hart (2011) notes: Social technologies, aka
Social Media, are a new breed of technologies that have emerged over the last few years and have
changes the face of the Web. Social Media is about transforming monologue into dialogue, about
free access to all types of information, about transforming internet users from mere readers to
creators of content, about interacting in the online world so as to form new personal or business
relationships.
A similar approach has Amy Campbell (2010a) who enumerates as defining characteristics
of Social Media the following three: the majority of content is user generated, a high degree of
participation/interaction between users, and easily integration with other sites. Anthony J. Bradley
(2010) has identified six core principles that set Social Media apart from other forms of
communication and collaboration: participation, collective, transparency, independence, persistence,
and emergence. Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) suggest that Social Media tools can be organized into
six major categories by applying a set of theories in the field of media research (social presence,
media richness) and social processes (self-presentation, self-disclosure): blogs, social networking
sites, virtual social worlds, collaborative projects, content communities and virtual games worlds.
Conole (2013) has defined five characteristics of Social Media:
Peer critiquing: the ability to comment in an open way on other peoples online
work/content, the feedback representing a mean to validate and improve that work;
User-generated content: web is no longer a passive or read only platform, but an active,
participatory, productive media;
Collective aggregation: social (collaborative) bookmarking, tag clouds and associated
visualisation tools, tagging, RSS feeds and embedding code, all enable collective
aggregation and folksonomies to occur;
Community formation: the connectivity and rich communicative channels provide an
environment for supporting a large spectrum of communities: from loosely bound spaces
through learning communities and communities of practice;
Digital personas: our activities on different platforms give a collective picture of how we are
viewed by others and build online portfolios.
We encounter Social Media in many different forms, including internet forums, blogs,
microblogs, social networks, media sharing sites, social bookmarking and tagging systems, wikis,
social aggregation, virtual worlds, social games and so many other (social) online artefacts.
Nevertheless Social Media remain the communication and collaboration media that have registered
the most important growth during the past years. For instance, Facebook targets an educated, careeroriented, blog-reading audience, whose members are interested in being part of communities and
sharing their experiences, while Twitter draws especially opinion leaders, who run blogs and are
passionate about networking, who are always connected to the latest news and trends and directed
towards professional development and personal accomplishments. We believe that it is important to
get to know the specific characteristics of the audience of these social platforms, the applications
and tools provided, with the aim of drawing correct usage and promotion principles that are
applicable in the academic environment.
3.2.2. Web2.0
Social Media has been evolving in a strong interconnection with the Web2.0 technologies, a
term defined by Tim O'Reilly in his fundamental article What Is Web 2.0 - Design Patterns and
Business Models for the Next Generation of Software (OReilly, 2005).
22

The Web 2.0 could be briefly described by the following characteristics:

it includes a wide range of applications and services that use the Web as a unitary and
structured communication platform;
it is built on an architecture that encourages the active participation of users;
it allows an easy interaction between users with similar interests;
it offers users the possibility to create, syndicate, tag content, share it with others, so it
allows a stronger interactivity;
it uses the power of internet users communities;
points to a change in paradigm with reference to the Web.

3.2.3. Social Objects

Jyri Engestrm1 (2005), co-developer of the Jaiku2 microblogging platform (acquired by
Google in 2007) and then responsible for Google mobile applications, has launched a theory stating
that, in most cases, people base their relations on certain objects, which he named social objects.
These can be physical, such as location, and semi-physical (such as attention) or even
conceptual, such as on-line presence. According to Engestrm, objects become the center of any
social relation and the nucleus/fundamental notions of a strong social network, for which he defends
the approach called "object centered sociality". "The social networking services that really work are
the ones that are built around objects.":
photos are objects of sociality for Flickr,
URLs are objects on del.icio.us,
events are objects focused on Upcoming.org,
books are objects on Amazon,
research papers are objects of focus on Academia.edu,
music is the focal object on MySpace, and
annotating places are social objects for Foursquare, to mention only a few successful social
networks.
Engestrm (2005) also underlines that: Approaching sociality as object-centered is to
suggest that when it becomes easy to create digital instances of the object, the online services for
networking on, through, and around that object will emerge too.
Following the experience with the innovative Jaiku, having as social objects to go
attention, location and presence, Engestrm (2007) has defined the five key principles for building a
service around social objects:
define your object
define your verbs
make the objects sharable
turn invitations into gifts
charge the publishers, not the spectators.
In such a network built around social objects, people will connect to objects, objects to
people, objects to objects, and people to people (becoming friends through a social object) (Betta,
2007).
3.2.4. A Typology of Social Media
In Table 3.1 and Table 3.2 we propose two large categories of Social Media, depending on
1 Jyri Engestrm's profile at CrunchBase http://www.crunchbase.com/person/jyri-engestrom
2 Jaiku (this name because the posts on Jaiku resemble Japanese haiku), purchased by Google in 2007, was shut down
in January 2012; Jaiku had 15000 users; Google published Jaiku code at https://code.google.com/p/jaikuengine/.

23

the social objects they are build around: for content sharing and for communication /collaboration /
location-based. For each subcategory the most representative worldwide and Romanian platforms
and applications are listed. The typology covers the current Social Media landscape (Solis and
JESS3, 2010) and educational tops (Hart, 2014), and is a result of our research and work with these
platforms during courses and workshops.
Table 3.1.Social Media networks and applications for content sharing
Blog (Blogger, WordPress, weblog.ro)
Miniblog (Tumblr.com, Posterous.com)
Microblog (Twitter.com, Cirip.ro, Plurk.com, Edmodo.com)
General Social Networks (Facebook.com, Plus.Google.com, MySpace.com)
Professional Social Networks (LinkedIn.com, Xing.com, Academia.edu,
Researchgate.net, Mendeley.com, Classroom.Google.com)
Social Bookmarking/Curation (Delicious.com, Diigo.com, Pinterest.com)
Video sharing (Youtube.com, Vimeo.com, TED.com, TeacherTube.com, Trilulilu.ro,
MyVideo.ro)
Image sharing (Flickr.com, Picasa.Google.com, deviantART.com, Instagram.com)
Audio/Podcasting sharing (Blip.fm, SoundCloud.com)
Code sharing (Ideone.com, Pastebin.com)
Presentation sharing (Slideshare.net, Authorstream.com, Prezi.com)
Document/Books sharing (Scribd.com, DocStoc.com, Drive.Google.com,
Books.Google.com)
Mindmaps (Mindomo.com, Mindmeister.com, Spicynodes.org)
Screencasting (Screenr.com, ScreenJelly.com, ScreenCastle.com)
Livestreaming (Qik.com, UStream.com)
Feeds Monitoring (Reader.Google.com, Bloglines.com, Nuzzel.com)
Wiki (Wikispaces.com, MediaWiki.org, Wikia.com, PBWorks.com)
Digital storytelling (Voicethread.com, Glogster.com, Capzles.com, Notaland.com,
Storybird.com, Storify.com, Photopeach.com, Projeqt.com, Padlet.com, Bibblio.com)
Table 3.2. Social Media for communication/collaboration/location-based
Groups (Groups.Google.com, Groups.Yahoo.com, Ning.com, Meetup.com)
Forums/Spaces for discussions (phpBB.net, Quora.com, Disqus.com)
Location-based (Foursquare.com, Yelp.com, Zvents.com)
Augmented reality (Layar.com, Wikitude.com, Zooburst.com)
Virtual worlds/Social Games (Secondlife.com, Playdom.com, OpenSimulator.org)
Instant messaging (YM, GTalk, Jabber, Skype)
These classifications have been used to assess how the Romanian educational actors use
Social Media and new emerging technologies in their professional activities, the results being
presented in Chapter 5. Also the characteristics of these platforms/applications are compared in
Chapter 6 in order to define the requirements of Cirip, also to decide which Social Media platforms
to be connected with it.
3.2.5. Microblogging
Microblogging is a term in common use since 2006, when Twitter and Jaiku were launched 3,
3

Jaiku (this name because the posts on Jaiku resemble Japanese haiku), purchased by Google in 2007, was shut

24

being a form of Social Media, recognized as Real-Time Web Publishing (Winer, 2009), which has
won an impressive audience acceptance and surprisingly changed online expression and interaction
for millions of users.
In this context, microblogging is a form/an extension of real-time blogging, which creates
real-time interactions between users by means of various devices, technologies and applications.

3.3. Trends and technologies connected with Social Media

In order to identify the emerging educational trends and technologies connected with Social
Media we have studied the reports produced by New Media Consortium (NMC) Horizon Project
(HP), an initiative launched in 2002, that charts the landscape of emerging technologies for
teaching, learning, research and creative inquiry. The Horizon Project reports, published annually in
collaboration with the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative and released with a Creative Commons
license (attribution-only), constitute expert research and analysis used by educators, practitioners
and leaders across the world to innovate their activities and institutions.
Table 3.3 depicts the trends in using technology in education, as resulting from the HP
reports published over the last eight years, between 2008-2015. The emerging technologies are
classified according to the adoption time in three categories: one year or less, two to three years
and four to five years (NMC, 2008-2014; NMC, 2015). Between paranthesis, for each of the three
categories, there are presented also two technolologies published in the short list of the draft report
for 2015 (NMC, 2015a).
Table 3.3. Emerging technologies in education as reported by the Horizon Project 2008-2015
HP
Report
2008

2010
One Year or Less
- Grassroots Video
- Collaboration Webs
- Mobiles
- Cloud Computing

2011
Two to Three Years
- Mobile Broadband
- Data Mashups
- Geo- Everything
- The Personal Web

2010

- Mobile Computing
- Open Content

- Electronic Books
- Simple Augmented
Reality

2011

- Electronic Books
- Mobiles
- Mobile Applications
- Tablet Computing

- Augmented Reality
- Game-Based Learning
- Gesture-Based
Computing
- Learning Analytics
- Games and Gamification
- Learning Analytics

- Game-Based Learning
- Learning Analytics
- Gesture-Based Computing
- Internet of Things

- 3D Printing
- Games and Gamification

- Quantified Self
- Virtual Assistants

- Makerspaces
- Wearable Technology

- Adaptive Learning
Technologies

2009

2012

2013

2014

2015

- Massively Open
Online Courses
- Tablet Computing
- Flipped Classroom
- Learning Analytics
- Bring Your Own
Device (BYOD)

2012
Four to Five Years
- Collective Inteligence
- Social Operating Systems
- Semantic Aware
Applications
- Smart Objects
- Gesture-Based Computing
- Visual Data Analysis

- 3D Printing
- Wearable Technology

down in January 2012; Jaiku had 15000 users; Google published Jaiku code at https://code.google.com/p/jaikuengine/.

25

- Flipped Classroom
(- Collaborative
(- Learning Analytics) Environments)
(-Mobile Applications) (- Games and
Gamification)

- The Internet of Things

(- Wireless Power)
(- Flexible Displays)

We have selected the following emerging technologies that have been expected for adoption
between 2008-2015 (in italics in Table 3.3):
Mobile Applications (the term is similar or close/connected to Mobile Learning, Tablet
Computing, Bring Your Own Device and Electronic Books)
Open Content
Augmented Reality
Learning Analytics (as part of the Visual Data Analysis trend in HR2010)
Massively Open Online Courses
Flipped Classroom.
They are presented in this chapter, together with other trends identified in literature.
3.3.1. eLearning2.0/Social Learning/Informal Learning
In education the uses of Web 2.0 technologies marked a shift from eLearning to
eLearning2.0, a term coined by Stephen Downes (Downes, 2005). eLeaning2.0 implies:
informal / social learning is integrated in formal learning;
during courses, a learning community is built which includes not only students and
facilitators, but also peers worldwide;
students build their own ePortfolios and Personal Learning Environments;
the Learning Management Systems (LMS) are enlarged by using Free and Open Source
Software (FLOSS), Open Educational Resources (OER), collaborative content and
interactions on Web2.0 platforms/applications, such as blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasts.
In pedagogy, Social Learning means learning through social interaction with peers (Conole,
2013). With the growth of Social Media, Social Learning is understood as learning with Social
Media, through communication and collaboration, with peer learners, and possible with facilitators
(Hart, 2011). Social Media are powerful enabling tools, when used appropriate; otherwise, forcing
people to use Social Media in courses in traditional command-and-control approaches, without
understanding how to organize learning activities in a natural way, could lead to Fauxial Learning
(Hart, 2014).
Social Learning means also new forms of learning, detailed in (Conole and Alevizou, 2010):
inquiry-based and exploratory learning;
new forms of communication and collaboration;
new forms of creativity, co-creation and production;
richer contextualization of learning.
Informal learning happens voluntarily in minimally structured situations, without pre-set
learning resources and pre-designated teachers (Clough et al., 2008), it is a self-directed,
serendipitous, curiosity-based learning (NMC, 2015). That is, informal learning is likely to happen
in a highly personalized manner based on learners particular needs, interests, and past experiences.
The claim that people learn through understanding and solving real-world problems in everyday
lives shows that informal learning is the most natural way of learning. The NMC Horizon Report
Project (2015) shows that blending formal and informal learning represents a solvable challenge for
academia, that "can create an environment that fosters experimentation, curiosity, and above all,
creativity". Usually the terms eLearning2.0, Social Learning and Informal Learning are considered
as synonyms.
26

3.3.2. Open Educational Resources

The proliferation of Web2.0 technologies and the new skills and knowledge gained by
students, teachers, practitioners in creating and using Social Media resources determined the
acceleration of the movement related to open access and Open Educational Resources (OERs). The
term OERs was adopted at the UNESCO Forum in 2002, when the impact of the Open Courseware
projects on higher education was analyzed, and officially renamed in April 2011 as Freely/Openly
Enabled Resources Supporting Training, Education, and Research (FOERSTER). The main reason
was that their use in higher education has not yet reached the critical threshold (OPAL Report,
2011) and has to be highlighted in all of the areas where they are transforming education, as
research and training.
Open Educational Resources mean any teaching, learning and research materials that are
freely and openly available for use, to be shared, combined, adapted or expanded by teachers,
educators, students and independent learners, without an accompanying need to pay royalties or
license fees (OECD, 2007; Butcher et al., 2011; UNESCO, 2011).
The Open Educational Resources include (Downes, 2012a; Holotescu, 2007):
digital assets as materials (content) for teaching and learning: open courseware and open
content projects, free courses, learning objects directories, educational magazines,
educational resources created and distributed on Social Media platforms;
visiting lecturers and experts, twinning arrangements (international exchanges of students
and academic staff), also inter-institutional programmes developed collaboratively;
open source software/open applications/platforms - for the development, use, reuse,
research, organization and access to the resources; these also include virtual environments,
learning communities, Web2.0 technologies/applications/tools;
intellectual property licenses promoting the open publication of the materials, design
principles and good practices, the localization of the content.
Although the Open/Free culture is in full development, it has become extremely attractive
for educational institutions to exploit it as well. Nevertheless, the higher education space is facing
the following dilemma: to open/ to share or to close/ not to share access to information and
ideas? (Andersen, 2010). Should we facilitate and encourage access to resources or should we limit
this access so as to protect legitimate interests, property rights, patents, the right to intimacy, the
intellectual property? Thus, an increasing number of educational actors are embracing the idea of an
OpenCourseWare / Open Knowledge / Open Faculty in a generic term Open Education, which
allows access to all their course materials under a copyleft license (generally Creative Commons
Attribution, Non-commercial, Share alike). The latter offers the freedom to use, share and exchange
content for non-commercial purposes, provided that the original author receives due recognition,
while all derived materials must be used under the same license.
Conole (2013) offers a broad perspective of the notion of "openness", covering each major
phase of the academic life cycle, namely, design, delivery, evaluation and research.; a list of the
new initiatives in the OER movement can be also consulted (Stacey, 2011).
Open digital faculty do more than just share and participate in open resources; they transfer
their approaches to the teaching space. Learning becomes a shared activity in which the students
also collaborate and participate in shaping the course activities. Student participation takes place in
open environments where students might tweet what they learn, share insights on a group blog,
create their own website of resources, or participate in a class wiki (Andersen, 2010).
Through the years a variety of institutions, organizations or foundations like UNESCO,
OECD or the European Union were preoccupied to launch (providing financial support, too) various
initiatives across the world for programs and projects related to OER. Some of the current initiatives
which act as driving forces for transforming education and learning at all levels are: Open
Education Europe (Opening Up Education Through New Technologies), SCALE CCR (Up-Scaling
27

Creative Classrooms in Europe), OEREU (Open Education Resources and Practices in Europe) and
POERUP (Policies for OER Uptake).
The new European Rethinking Education strategy specifies that: "Technology, in particular
the internet, must be fully exploited. Schools, universities and vocational and training institutions
must increase access to education via open educational resources." (EC, 2012).
We appreciate that Romania is active in the OER movement mainly through OER and OEP
initiatives by institutions/groups and engaged individuals, and through specific projects or
programmes, on the following axes/directions (Holotescu, 2012; Holotescu et al., 2014b):
trainings/courses related to OER and OEP organized for both pre-university and university
sectors;
proposals at governmental level related to OER and Web2.0, that can become driving forces;
more for the pre-university level but not yet in formal policies: Knowledge based
Economy Project4 and the Government Programme for 2013-20165: Ministry of
Communication and Ministry of Education will collaborate to support the innovative
integration of Web2.0 and Open Educational Resources in education;
national events related to open resources produced by pre-university teachers; national
guides were published too;
directories with open resources (more numerous for pre-university level);
projects in development for MOOCs at university level and for continuing education;
strong communities/events for open source, open access, open data, open licences (the
Creative Commons Romania version6 was launched in September 2, 2008).
3.3.3. Learning Design
According to Stutzman (2009), Learning Design (LD) aims to enable reflection, refinement,
change and communication by focusing on forms of representation, notation and documentation,
also to support teachers in making pedagogically informed, in better use of educational resources
(OER) and collaborative technologies (Social Media). Learning Design and Learning Analytics
work together: a condition for successful learning and teaching is to evaluate and improve learning
design based on learning analytics. The scope of LD is to raise the quality of the learning
experience, learning outcomes and learner support, proving a "coherent sequence of media,
technologies and pedagogies" (Sharples et al., 2014).
There are some notable projects which mark the Learning Design domain: variants of EML,
the Educational Modelling Language developed by the Valkenburg Group, IMS-LD standard, JISC
Design for Learning Program, modelling tools such as LAMS, Reload, CopperCore,
CompendiumLD, etc (Conole and Alevizou, 2010). We should also mention Cloudworks, a social
network focused strictly on LD (Conole and Culver, 2009), gathering a community of practice that
discuss and share resources, ideas and scenarios for integrating new technologies in education, in an
informal way.
3.3.4. Social Learning Management Systems
One area where Social Media is having an important impact is the development of Learning
Management Systems (LMSs). LMSs have dominated the academia landscape since the middle of
90s, almost all universities having an institutional LMS implementation, which connects the user to
university resources, regulations, help, and educational content such as modules and assessment.
4
5

Knowledge based Economy Project http://www.ecomunitate.ro/en/proiect

Government Programme for 2013-2016, adopted in December 2012, http://gov.ro/upload/articles/118981/programde-guvernare-2013-2016.pdf
6 http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Romania

28

Nowadays, when students and teachers use Social Media platforms and Web 2.0 tools for
creating and sharing content, for communication and collaboration, the LMS may be perceived as
inflexible and 'cookie-cutter' in its method of organizing instruction, falling behind in its ability to
support the trend toward personalized learning environments (Ingerman and Yang, 2010) or like a
slow-moving cruise ship that locked passengers in their cabins (Stein, 2014).
Three important drawbacks of the institutional LMS are stated by Mott (2010) and Mott and
Wiley (2009):
LMSs are generally organized around academic semesters, this way the learning process
is disrupted and the learning communities don't continue to exist after the course end;
LMSs are teacher-centric, teachers being those who create courses, upload content, start
discussion forums and form study groups; students initiative and self learning decisions
are limited; LMSs are used more for "downloading learning" - modules than for
collaborative work;
Courses developed and delivered via the LMS are walled gardens, limited to the students
officially enrolled: content/sharing/communication/collaboration remain in the private
space of the course.
Groom and Lamb (2014) outline five arguments against the Learning Management Systems:
Systems: Usually educational institutions view "learning as a technological problem, one
that requires a 'system' to 'manage' it". They should support "learning enhancement
environments" not "learning managements systems";
Silos: In spite of the current hype around open education, most of LMSs don't provide
"capacities to publish to and interact with the wider web and public", restricting "online
teaching and learning activity to these closed systems". Courses are like silos which can
not be referred by students after the course end, thus the lifelong learning is not
promoted and also the university mission of promoting enlightenment and critical
inquiry in society is missed.
Missed Opportunities: Students are supposed to spend hours in virtual spaces that don't
equip them with new digital skills and practice instead of being guided into an
"information age of immense complexity, promise, and uncertainty" in a spirit of critical
inquiry. "They are in a system; they are being managed".
Costs: There are important costs associated with supporting LMSs; the budget and staff
time might be directed toward alternative solutions such as free Social Media
applications and platforms, open-source and user-driven innovation.
Confidence: Most LMSs are found inflexible by both students and teachers comparing
with Social Media platforms and applications and many time educational actors loss the
confidence to experiment beyond the "system".
Weller (2014) concludes that "rather than being a stepping stone to further elearning
experimentation, the LMS became an end point in itself".
Personal Learning Environments (PLE) and social LMS (LMS integrating social
networks/collaboration) are now taken in account by many universities which search solutions for
the coexistence and interoperability between LMSs and open educational technologies (Hill, 2014).
3.3.5. Personal Learning Environments
The term "Personal Learning Environment" (PLE) was coined in 2004 by JISC and Scott
Wilson, meaning the integration of Social Media around the learner who sets the own learning
goals, manages the learning content and communicates, shares and learns with others in the process
of learning (JISC, 2004; Wilson, 2005).
Thus social interactions among participants could support the learning process in social
environments specially created or utilizing the functionality of existing social sites and software.
29

Another term Personal Learning Network (PLN) has recently emerged to describe the
sum of all social capital and connections that result in the development and facilitation of a personal
learning environment (Couros, 2010).
Obviously, the social interactions of an individual in a social oriented online environment, in
support of his/her planned needs for learning, play an important role for the shaping of individual
features (Ivanova, Grosseck and Holotescu, 2012).
3.3.6. Mobile Learning
Considered the most popular, widespread and ubiquitous (personal) communications
technology on the planet (Gagnon, 2010), the wireless communication technology includes a wide
range of mobile devices/wireless terminals, starting from the already classic laptops, notebooks,
PDAs, iPods, handheld, palmtops or tablet PCs to the various mobile phone models (with or
without specifications such as: touchscreen, clamshell, sliding, possibility to capture images with an
integrated camera, editing/sharing them, bluetooth, 3G, radio FM, music player/MP3,
recording/rendering video content, Internet connexion, HTML browsers, email applications) and
other intelligent devices such as the iPhone, iPad. Used generally for booking tickets, travels,
restaurants, banking operations, stock market transactions, listening/downloading music, accessing
information about the weather forecast and sports etc., mobile devices create challenging
opportunities for learning, defined as mobile education or mobile learning or m-learning.
M-learning implies flexible and collaborative learning modalities, content creation and
sharing, anywhere and anytime, at the same time ensuring close relationships between learning in
the workplace, at home, at school and/or in a community by anyone on any subject (the Tim Kellys
4A vision: anywhere, anytime, by anyone and anything ITU, 2005). In the context of m-learning,
the facilitation and the pedagogical design input of the teacher are critical: "M-learning, being the
digital support of adaptive, investigative, communicative, collaborative, and productive learning
activities in remote locations, proposes a wide variety of environments in which the teacher can
operate" (Laurillard and Pachler, 2007).
M-learning does not represent an expensive process, neither a complex one from a
technological point of view, so that installing a wireless network in a higher education institution
can be considered a normal extension of the educational system and an instructional one in the
continuing formation segment (Khaddage et al., 2009). However, statistics (Smith, 2010) indicate
that for most of the European countries and the United States (except South Corea and Japan) mlearning does not represent yet one of the educational methods currently used in formal education,
but in the same time that a 94% rate of 21st century college students have a mobile phone, their
favourite communication method being text messaging or IM (Lenhart, 2010). Mobile applications
are listed in NMC Horizon Project 2012 (NMC HP, 2013), time to adoption one year or less.
3.3.7. Digital Curation
While the classic term curation was used mostly in museums, this activity implying the
study of specific techniques, the new buzzword of the web Digital Curation (DC) names a rapidly
evolving field, in line with the expansion of Social Media, being a promising new framework for
organizing and adding value to Social Media, complementing the traditional methods of algorithmic
search and aggregation (Duh et al., 2012). Many researchers and practitioners in Social Media
appreciated that 2012 was the year of the digital curation. However, Gil (2012) suggests that digital
curation it is more than a meta-trend in Social Media, it is a big evolutionary step.
Literature offers many definitions of curation and there are more ways of interpreting
curation in the online environment. Although digital curation can be used as a synonym for
aggregation, in fact its a double for intelligent aggregation (Rosenbaum, 2011), maintaining,
30

preserving and adding value to digital research data throughout its lifecycle (The Digital Curation
Centre, 2012). In the author opinion, the digital curation is the collaborative activity of finding,
selecting, creatively reorganising Social Media artefacts / assets, relevant for different topics, and
sharing them with the aim of future consumption.
Digital curation can be:
a) human-driven (finding and selecting the content on a specific issue is realized by the
users, being a creative and intellectual labour socially curated web);
b) based on algorithmic / aggregation techniques (selection follows ones preferences and
therefore kills serendipitous discovery) or
c) a combination of both.
Are there levels of DC? For e.g. is there a professional and / or amateur level, since the
Social Media allow the latter status for any person with an internet connection? Moreover, anyone
can be a curator, regardless of profession, age, gender, time etc. (Kelly, 2012). Summarizing, the
person that gathers and selects the relevant information for ones own audience is a digital
curator. Likewise, curation is possible with all kind of media objects not only text and links (for
e.g. audio, photos, videos). Different type of curated content can be found on the Robin Goods
mind map / blog discovering educational news and information (presentation, case studies, tips and
advice, reviews of events and books, photos, infographics, videos and podcasts), learning/narrative
communities etc. (Good, 2012).
There is an explosion of tools specifically designed for content curation and that the choice
is difficult. Some of the most used digital curation application educators rely on are (Grosseck and
Holotescu, 2013a):
a) Twitter (with the help of the Discover button = interesting/relevant content to users,
retweet content to their own network - tweet this/share on Twitter; and use TwitterList to curate
information from other users);
b) Tumblr (Re-blog = curate content without producing original content (Gil, 2012);
c) Pinterest (curate content into boards visually);
d) Scoop.it = curating made easy, social sharing with wings;
e) Flipboard (makes a show out of the RSS flux we talk about social aggregation here);
f) Snip.it (social information curation platform);
g) Storify (is a way of telling stories by using Social Media such as tweets, photos and
videos; useful to capture conference sessions (Kanter, 2011);
h) Old Social Media services: Delicious, Flickr, Pearltrees or Google services (Alert /
Reader / Books / Bookmarks / YouTube etc.).
3.3.8. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC)
The term MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) was coined by Downes (2008) and
Siemens (2010), who facilitated the first such online course, the hundreds of participants being
distributed geographically, and the content, communication and collaboration being spread across a
large typology of Social Media platforms; the central topic of the course run in 2008 was
Connectivism and Connective Knowledge (CCK08)7 (Downes, 2008; Downes e al., 2011).
Some important characteristics of MOOCs are: learner-centered, open access, and
scalability.
In 2012, which can be considered the year of MOOCs, this trend has evolved at an
unprecedented pace, fueled by high profile entrants like prestigious universities (MITx 8 and edX9)

7
8
9

Connectivism and Connective Knowledge MOOC http://connect.downes.ca/archive/08/09_15_thedaily.htm

https://www.edx.org/university_profile/MITx
https://www.edx.org/

31

and open platforms (Coursera10 and Udacity11 ) (Watters, 2012a).

Also MOOC is listed in NMC Horizon Project Short List: 2013 Higher Education Edition
(NMC HP, 2013), time to adoption one year or less.
In 2013 the portal FutureLearn, the first initiative launched outside of USA (Gaebel, 2013),
started to offer MOOCs supported by Open University and other UK universities, and also by the
British Council and the BBC: "students have opportunities to connect beyond the immediate course
to a world of open educational resources, including The Open Universitys OpenLearn
(http://futurelearn.com).
The business model for these courses include partnership with testing centers, job
placement programs (http://blog.udacity.com), but also the design of courses for companies,
having separate study groups for employees and specific user analtics (Korn, 2014).
According to (Thompson, 2011), MOOC brings a new model for delivering learning
content online to virtually any person - and as many of them - who wants to take the course having
as central characteristics the learner-centered, open access and scalability approach. Thus, in the
online space, the global appetite for global learning becomes a powerful force, with a growing
number of universities that try to redefine the idea of education through MOOC (Mehlenbache,
2012; Gaebel, 2013).
However MOOC is not an educational panacea (Creed-Dikeogu and Clark, 2013), it is a
supplement for traditional courses / a recipe for educational reform which has the potential to
become a global higher education game changer (Dennis, 2012).
MOOCs are classified by literature in the following categories:
a) Network-based: cMOOC Constructivist MOOC. Such courses - CCK08, CCK09, CCK11,
mobiMOOC, etMOOC and eduMOOC - are flexible, with the content co-created, shared
and discussed by participants on a large area of social media platforms. They are based on
the explicit principles of connectivism (autonomy, diversity, openness and interactivity) and
on the activities of aggregation, remixing, repurposing and feeding forward the resources
and learning. (Rodriguez, 2012);
b) Content-based: xMOOC "x" represents "extension", "experimental" or "multiplied" up.
This type of courses on the platforms MITx, edX, Coursera, Udacity - are usually offered
by universities or their spin-offs and are structured around fixed content and assessment
(McAndrew and Jones, 2012);
c) Task-based: pMOOC project-based or task-based MOOC is a new category represented by
two courses that we have explored: OLDS-MOOC, that "combines a constructivist
pedagogical orientation with a practical and authentic outcome" (OLDS, 2012) and DS106
(http://ds106.us), designed as a storytelling workshop, in which the participants had to create
digital stories.
d) Dual-layer: DALMOOC (Data, Analytics, and Learning) is a MOOC delivered on EdX
starting with October 20, 2014 with a duration of 9 weeks, as an experimental mixture
between cMOOC and xMOOC. The participants have had the possibility to choose between
multiple learning pathways: either in the existing edX format, as a typical instructor-led
course, or in a social competency-based and student-centered / self-directed format, similar
to workplace group work sessions, following the Problem Based Learning paradigm
(Siemens, 2014; Crosslin, 2014).
There are studies that consider MOOCs as a form of OERs (POERUP project reports12); we
could say that MOOCs are live OERs because MOOCs include open access materials, but also
facilitation, communication and collaboration between distributed learners and teachers.
10 https://www.coursera.org/
11 http://www.udacity.com/
12 http://poerup.referata.com

32

3.3.9. Learning Analytics

Learning Analytics is a relatively new field of research for learning organizations, which
appears as a trend in all the Horizon Project Reports starting with 2010, when it was part of the
Visual Data Analysis field (NMC, 2010-2015).
During the first International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge, organized
in 2011 in Canada, the concept of Learning Analytics was defined as the measurement, collection,
analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and
optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs, as cited by Siemens and Long (2011).
Friesen (2013) clarifies the two important terms in the above definition:
Data about learners: usually these data consist of the records of students activity in
LMSs, such as logging, posting and commenting messages, accessing materials,
posting assignments, but also the results in previous courses or inventories of
preferences.
Optimizing and understanding learning: can be realized using a range of possible
approaches to (automatically) collect data about learners from multiple sources and
to interpret this collection in order to predict and improve students future academic
performance, to help those at risk with prompt feedback.
Learning Analytics envisages modelling learning interactions, dynamic adaptation /
personalisation of the course materials/interactions/assignments/strategies/processes based on largescale data collection (big data), in order to improve the learning outcomes. An important amount of
data is collected by LMSs, but the things become more complex when it comes to collect/analyse
the interactions and communications on Social Media platforms which are integrated in the learning
process, and also when courses are delivered not only as online or blended courses for tens of
students, but as MOOCs for hundreds or thousands of distributed participants.
Siemens and Long (2011) propose the following cycle to reflect analytics in learning,
starting from course level to departmental and institutional levels:
course-level: learning trails, social network analysis, discourse analysis;
educational data-mining: predictive modelling, clustering, pattern mining;
intelligent curriculum: the development of semantically defined curricular resources;
adaptive content: adaptive sequence of content based on learner behaviour,
recommender systems;
adaptive learning: the adaptive learning process (social interactions, learning activity,
learner support, not only content).
As Conole (2014) put in her chapter The Use of Technology in Distance Education:
Learning analytics can be used as a tool to understand learning behaviour, to provide evidence to
support design of more effective learning environments, and to make effective use of social and
participatory media.
Dedicated Learning Analytics modules were implemented for different LMSs: Blackboard
Analytics for Learn can help in finding if student performance is dependent on the instructor's
previous training; also the Brightspace LMS (formerly Desire2Learn) comes with an array of
analytics capability called Insights, reporting on at risk students' differences between courses or
providing metrics related to social learning (Sclater, 2014).
3.3.10. Blended Learning/Flipped Classrooms
Coined more than ten years ago, the blended learning paradigm, (partially) overlapping with
the flipped classroom model, is embraced more and more by teachers worldwide, the Horizon
Report 2014 giving this approach a time-to-adoption of one year or less (Johnson et al., 2014).
This pedagogical approach means a mixture of face-to-face and online activities and the
33

integration of synchronous and asynchronous learning tools, thus providing an optimal possibility
for the arrangement of effective learning processes (Andone and Vasiu, 2012; Holotescu et al.,
2007; Naaji et al., 2013).
3.3.11. Augmented Reality
Coined for the first time in 1990 by Tim Caudell, Augmented Reality (AR) defines the
latest and the greatest concept of computer-aided life, being in constant evolution and redefinition.
Augmented Reality (AR) combines the real world with that which is virtual (Latif, 2012). It is
considered an area of real interest, a promising and effective technology (Ivanova and Ivanov,
2011a), still little developed.
Augmented Reality connects and combines real life objects, places and people around us to
a variety of information and simulated computer generated experiences (Ivanova and Ivanov,
2011a). AR is used in domains such as: advertising and marketing, architecture and construction,
entertainment, medical sector, military field, travel, education.
Although the booming of AR development is seen in domains such as marketing and
entertainment (Hamilton, 2011), AR entered in education too in tangible and exciting ways, with
lots of possibilities for teaching and learning environments, even if the research for augmenting
education is still in its infancy, with no actual educational agenda (Yuen, Yaoyuneyong and
Johnson, 2011). However, the educational applications of AR have potential in disciplines and fields
of education such as: chemistry, biology, astronomy, medical training simulations, engineering
design, mathematics and geometry, architecture, e-learning systems or science education
(Billinghurst, 2002; Hamilton, 2011; Yuen, Yaoyuneyong and Johnson, 2011; Ivanova and Ivanov,
2011).
Some tools to create AR educational applications are simple, very friendly and easy to use
and require no programming knowledge or skill, like Daqri (www.daqri.com) or Zoobrust
(www.zooburst.com) the 3D storytelling tool for creating 3D books (Carr, 2010). With powerful
programming interface, other tools are intended for developers: ARToolKit, Unifeye, Mobile SDK,
or Wikitude (Holotescu et al., 2013a).
3.3.12. Open Educational Practices and New Learning Theories
Open Educational Practices (OEP) are defined as the range of practices around the creation,
use and management of Open Educational Resources with the intent to improve quality and
innovate education (OPAL, 2011).
In a broader vision, Open Educational Practices (OEP) mean a transition from a traditional
educational process based on resource and with assessment based on outcomes, to a learning
process in which learners participate actively in social processes, in judging, reflection and
innovation (Conole, 2013).
Behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism are learning theories used to design
instructional environments before technology to influence and to be integrated in teaching/learning
processes.
Open education, governed by Open Educational Practices, implying collaborative learning
processes enabled by emerging technologies, are connected with new learning theories, for which
an overview can be found in (Dron and Anderson, 2014). Theoretical key concepts for new learning
theories are given in this section:
a) Connectivism states that knowledge is distributed across a network of connections, and
therefore that learning consists of the ability to construct and traverse those networks;
knowledge is the set of connections formed by actions and experience (Siemens, 2005).
Connections to social networks for information creation, storing, sharing, and retrieval, but
34

also incorporation of social networking tools to facilitate the flow and exchange of
information within a network are important aspects in designing learning environments
based on Connectivism (Williams and Whyte, 2011). Connectivism is built on an
assumption of a constructivist model of learning, with the learner at the centre, connecting
and constructing knowledge in a context that includes not only external networks and groups
but also his or her own histories and predilections (Anderson and Dron, 2011).
b) Learning communities are groups of people learning together through communication and
collaboration; a community could be nurtured by a facilitator; it is possible to include not
only the participants in a course, but also external learners and experts, thus becoming a
distributed learning community. The principles for building successful learning community
announced by Downes in 2001, are still valid (Downes, 2001):
o focus on learning materials;
o creation of a sense of whole;
o integrate content and communication;
o appreciate participant-generated content;
o on-going communication between members;
o access to multiple resources and information;
o educational orientation;
o sense of history.
c) Produsage is the the collaborative and continuous building and extending of existing
content in pursuit of further improvement, users being both creators and consumers of
information and knowledge in collaborative networks (Bruns, 2007). The produsage exhibits
the following aspects:
o is community-based - the community has to be large and varied enough so that
members can contribute more than a closed team of (qualified) producers;
o fluid roles produsers participation depends on their personal skills, interests, and
knowledge;
o unfinished artefacts - content artefacts in produsage projects are continually under
development, following evolutionary, iterative, palimpsestic paths;
o common property, individual merit - contributors permit (non-commercial)
community use, adaptation, and further development of their intellectual property
(free licences), being rewarded by the status capital gained through this process.
Flexible academic environments are needed which build the collaborative, creative, critical,
and communicative capacities of digital students entering produsage communities.
Siemens and Tittenberg (2009) came with a very suggestive representation (reproduced in
Figure 3.1) for opening up education using new educational technologies: learners become cocreators of course content, which is enlarged with OERs. Also the communication and collaboration
on social networks make possible the interaction with external learners and experts.

35

Figure 3.1. Technology enhanced learning ( Siemens and Tittenberg, 2009)

Use of social media creates a more fertile environment for the development of communities
of practice, identification of experts, sharing of ideas, and the spread of innovation (Martin and
Parker, 2008).
The use of OERs demands for new models in higher education, new strategies to increase
the reach and impact of open educational resources. Thus in Table 3.4 one can find a parallel
between the elements specific to a conservatory educational system and those related to
collaborative and open educational practices (OEP) (Geser, 2007).
Social Media have facilitated a shift in focus from the resources themselves towards the
practices associated with the creation, use and management of OERs: that is, Open Educational
Practices (OEP).
Table 3.4. Open Educational Approaches - based on (Geser, 2007)

Educational approach

Conservatory approach

Main notion

Textbook, courseware,
additional material

Teacher's role
Student's role
Educational content

Instructor, knowledge
transmitter
Information, knowledge
receiver
Certified material, in
accordance with the
curriculum

Authors

Several professional authors

Copyright

Rigid - All rights reserved

Open approach (The use of OERs

also leads to opening pedagogical
scenarios)
Open resources (learning content)
created collaboratively with Social
Media
Facilitator of the learning process
Active participant who develops skills,
knowledge, competences
Content created/recreated/shared by
teachers and students in a certain
educational context
Many authors: proffesional authors,
teachers, students
Open licenses - Creative Commons

36

Content designing process

Context

Quality check

Access
Services
Learning objects

Metadata
Instruments
Content management

Design, assembly,
transmission (one to many)
Unidisciplinary, not
integrated in a continuous
learning process; uniform

Creation, share, reuse, improvement

(many to many process)
Part of the learning process,
interdisciplinary; personalized, adapted
to learning needs/learning styles
Realised by teachers and students
within the educational process (in the
Realised by experts
study group or in the community of
practice)
Open; part of the content could be
Restricted
accessed only by members
Databases enabling the search Web2.0/open/collaborative
and download of materials
technologies
Dynamic units, interconnected,
Static units, seldom updated updated, published in dedicated
directories, also on Social Media
Categories in blogs, tags, RSS,
IMS, LOM
recommendations in social networks,
microblogs
Applications installed locally Wikis, micro/blogs, RSS, social
(desktop)
networks
LMS
Social/mobile LMS, PLE

"The vision of open educational practice includes a move from a resource based learning
and outcomes based assessment, to a learning process in which social processes, validation and
reflection are at the heart of education, and learners become experts in judging, reflection,
innovation within a domain and navigation through domain knowledge" (OPAL, 2011).

3.4. A Conceptual Model for Open Learning Environments

Kirschner, Strijbos, Kreijns and Beers (2004) state that a learning environment is a unique
combination of pedagogical, social and technological components. Founded on our research, we
define in Table 3.5 the characteristics of effective Open Learning Environments based on emerging
educational technologies and open educational practices identified and presented before, the
characteristics being divided in three categories: pedagogical, social and technological.
Table 3.5. Characteristics of Open Learning Environments

Pedagogical

Type

No
1.

Characteristic
Open Educational
Resources

2.

Learners as content
co-creators

3.

Collaborative/
distributed
assessment;

Description
Course content extended with Open Educational Resources /
Open Access materials / MOOCs proposed by teachers,
learners and/or automatically recommended.
The content is not created solely by faculty members, but can
be collaboratively co-created by students enrolled in that
course.
Peer and collaborative/distributed assessment have to be
integrated, together with issues related to copyright,
ownership, security and privacy; optimizing and
37

4.

Technological

Social

5.

Learning Analytics
Interactions with
external learners and
experts
Collaborative
applications and
platforms

6.

Public PLE

7.

Time-persistency/
Retrieval

8.

Teacher
training/sharing
Learning Design

9.

Institutional
/administrative
management
features/privacy
assurance
Mobile Learning

10.

understanding learning using data about learners.

The students' interactions with external learners and experts
on different Social Media platforms could bring new insights
on content and enlarge it, could validate the course content.
Students choose and use different distributed (free)
collaborative applications and platforms for their
group/cooperative work, also for communication with external
participants and experts.
Students build public profiles/portfolios during courses, which
can be extended/used in future courses; also their
previous/tacit knowledge could be assessed for a better
personalization of the course.
The environments should be time-persistent (Mott and Wiley,
2009): an important aim would be to continue the
collaboration between participants (and facilitator) after the
course end, to maintain access to the course content and
interaction, and to assure a continuity of the learning
community. Also the content and interaction should be
retrieved using different search terms.
Teachers should continuously learn/improve knowledge and
skills in communities of practice, validate and improve
learning scenarios, benefit of shadow mentoring from more
experienced colleagues and be able to visit/learn from the
virtual spaces facilitated by other peers.
A balance between imperatives of institutional networks and
the promise of the cloud to be achieved (Mott, 2010).

Mobile learning is supported and encouraged: students can

use mobile devices for a better management of their work
(inside and outside educational institution).

All these would mean to break the walls of the university amphitheaters and of the Learning
Management Systems toward collaborative platforms, external experts and learners, to use Open
Educational Resources and Practices.
Figure 3.2 is a use case for an Open Learning Environment following the principles stated in
Table 3.5.

38

Figure 3.2. Use case for an Open Learning Environment

3.4.1. Classification of learning environments integrating new technologies
The projects and experiences reported in literature we have evaluated, related to integrating
emerging educational technologies and open educational practices in learning environments, have
lead us to the following classifications:
1. Enhanced LMS: In most projects, the courses are enhanced with interactions on Social
Media platforms, without an integration in LMS: communication and content co-creation on
wikis, blogs, RSS, collaborative bookmarking systems (Holotescu and Naaji, 2007; Bennett
et al., 2012), social networks such as Facebook (Grosseck et al., 2011; Rasiah and
Ratneswary, 2014; Hocoy, 2013), microblogs (Ebner and Maurer, 2008; Holotescu and
Creu, 2013). In these cases the time-persistency characteristic of the students' portfolio and
of the course content is missing, because they are (at least partially) located on LMSs or on

39

other platforms. Launched in January 2015, Facebook at Work13, enabling the

communication, interaction and collaboration over documents with co-workers/peers, could
be a new solution for creating learning communities on this social network, assuring their
privacy.
2. Integrated LMS: Integrating collaborative tools and connecting Social Media with Learning
Management Systems: BYU OLN (Mott, 2010), COOPER - Collaborative Open
Environment for Project Centered Learning (Bongio et al., 2006), DIMPLE (Andone, 2011),
eLearnTS (Holotescu et al., 2007), eMUSE (Popescu, 2012), iCamp (Wild, 2009), iPLE
(Casquero, 2010), Moodle (Braz et al., 2012), PLEBOX (Simes et al., 2013), Google's
Course Builder, an Open Source LMS, offering the possibility to host MOOCs, which
integrates Google Social Media/collaborative educational tools (Jacoby, 2014). Figure 3.3 is
a suggestive representation of open/social LMSs as unwalled gardens, providing openness to
social networks and open/collaborative technologies. Interoperability standards, such as LTI
and Caliper standards, can be used for exchange of data, roster, context between LMSs and
external networks (IMS Caliper, 2013; Hill, 2014). This category limits the possible
interaction with external learners and experts, and the visibility of the built PLEs.

Figure 3.3. Integrated LMS: Opening LMS toward collaborative networks (Hill, 2014)
3. Widgets Network: Integrating administrative and assessment LMS specific features in
general social networks, such as ROLE widgets integrated in Facebook or LinkenIn (Faltin
et al., 2013). This case could be a solution only for specific courses, thus there is a little
chance to establish continuous PLEs and learning or practice communities of
students/teachers.
13

Facebook at Work - https://www.facebook.com/help/work

40

4. Dedicated Network: Building dedicated learning social networks that host virtual spaces for
courses: NeoLMS (formerly Edu2.0) (Ivanova, 2009c; Ivanova and Popova, 2009),
LearnWorlds, attaCommunity (called the Facebook for learning), Edmodo or
ProjectCampus14 (a collaborative platform for group work, which integrates applications
such as Dropbox, Google Drive or Kaltura and can be connected with LMSs like Moodle,
Blackboard and Canvas). Such educational networks limit the possibility to interact with
external experts and learners, to activate on a large category of social networks, and also the
openness of the PLEs created by participants.
3.4.2. An Open Learning Environment based on Microblogging
Building the learning community on general/open social networks extends learning with
ubiquity and informal characteristics: connecting learning community with personal and business
network of a user makes user experience more live and dynamic supporting practice sharing and
exchange (Faltin et al., 2013).
In 2008, when we have started the research on Microblogging, this Social Media technology
was very new, with only a few applications in education; this has represented for us a challenging
domain to be explored.
Comparing the proposed characteristics of an Open Learning Environment (Table 3.5) with
those of an open microblogging platform, we can note that an environment based on microblogging,
one of the top Social Media technologies, offers the premises for:
communication and collaboration,
content sharing and co-creation,
mobile learning,
openness to Open Educational Resources,
connections with other Social Media platforms, and
time-persistency of content and portfolios:
An open microblogging platform:
with integrated learning management features,
with collaborative/distributed students' assessment and Learning Analytics,
with the possibility for teachers training and Learning Design sharing,
would become an Open Learning Environment, following the model proposed before.
Thus, we select microblogging as the base technology for the learning platform to be
developed.
In order to establish the requirements for designing an open microblogging platform the next
chapter will examine this technology.

3.5. Conclusions
This chapter is a state of the art of Emerging Educational Technologies and practicies,
presenting oportunities and challenges brought to opening up education.
We have identified the characteristics of an Open Learning Environment (Table 3.5), targeting
the emerging educational technologies/trends:
Mobile Applications/Learning
Open Content/Open Educational Resources/Open Educational Practices
Learning Design
Learning Analytics
14

About ProjectCampus at https://about.projectcamp.us/tour

41

Augmented Reality
Digital Curation
Massively Open Online Courses
Blended Learning/Flipped Classroom.
Having selected microblogging as the base technology for the learning platform to be
developed, the next chapter will examine this technologogy in order to establish the requirements
for designing such an open microblogging platform.
3.5.1. Contributions
The original contributions of this chapter are:
1. Identification and analysis of the emerging technologies, trends and theories in education,
together with a proposed classification of Social Media platforms and applications (Table 3.1
and Table 3.2). The findings were published in (Grosseck and Holotescu, 2011a).
2. A conceptual model for Open Learning Environments founded on the identified educational
technologies and theories, with characteristics divided in three categories: pedagogical, social
and technological.

42

Chapter 4. Features, Uses and Architectures of Educational Microblogging

Platforms

4.1. Introduction
The Web, as a socio-technical environment, comprises various means of interactions, as well
as the social practices related to their use. In the online landscape structured on four axes of
interactions: communication, collaboration, creation and curation, the microblogging is seen as a
new social media revolution.
It is quite demanding to write about microblogging in general, and writing a comprehensive
study on its dissemination and pedagogical potential can present even more problems. Even if this
social media instrument has come into use only relatively recently (the first platforms appeared in
2006), more and more educators, practitioners and researchers worldwide are actively involved in
finding, testing and sharing educational uses for microblogging.
This chapter introduces the phenomenon of microblogging and presents the most relevant
options for educators:
What is a microblog / What is microblogging? What are the resources needed to create a
microblog and to explore the microsphere?
What can microblogging offer in terms of teaching/training, learning and researching?
Are microblogs educational instruments? How can microblogging be integrated into
pedagogical practices?
What are the theoretical principles (essential for guiding the integration of microblogs
into education) and what kind of best practice models are there?
If there is a blogology, the study of the social aspects of blogs, why could we not have a
micrology, as a pedagogy of microblogs, as well? Could this be the proper term for a
discipline dealing with the educational potential of microblogs?
The chapter is structured into two large sections that provide a general-to-specific approach of
both theoretical and practical aspects related to the microblogging features and architectures and the
impact of microblogs in the educational space. It is part of the first phase of the DBR approach
(Figure 2.3), having as aim to prepare the requirements of the open microblogging platform to be
developed.

4.2. Microblog and Microblogging Definitions

From an etymological perspective the word 'microblog' (also, sometimes written with a
hyphen: micro-blog) comes from the conjoining of the terms 'micro' and 'blog'. The first one is a
common used prefix which means 'small' whereas the second term represents a webpage with a
continuous, regular and chronological series of information (text and/or multimedia content) about
one or more subjects.
In other words, by microblog we understand a blog of small sizes, a severe space with size
constraints, as specifies Merriam Webster Dictionary15, composed by posts of maximum of 140-200
characters, that may sometimes include links, images or video clips and are available to be read
either by any internaut or just by a group of people, named followers.
In a world of hundreds of microblogging platforms, the most popular applications include
15

Microblogging definition at Merriam Webster: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/microblogging.

43

Twitter, Plurk, Edmodo, Tumblr, Identi.ca, Yammer, Shoutem, or Weibo in China.

The person who creates and maintains the entries is called microblogger, entries are called
microposts and the activity of writing is called microblogging.
The lilliputian character of the notes and the fact that they may be posted from wherever
you are (online, by phone, ipads or tablets, sent as SMS, e-mail or instant messaging) has not only
changed microblogging into a fast-food writing experience, circumventing the usual editorial rigor,
but may be considered as a possible explanation for its popularity.
Microblogging, as a means to express any type of message quickly, was practiced in several
ways before the emergence of the well-known microblogging platform Twitter. Such examples of
miniature digital communications are:
saving an online resource using a service of social bookmarking like Delicious (or Diigo),
accompanied by a short explanatory/descriptive text within a certain limit of characters (it
basically provides a diet for increasing the size of messages),
taking notes on a web page with a notetaking software like Zotero, EverNote or other similar
services16,
describing an image with Flickr or a piece of news with Digg,
can be considered interesting micro-posts, with unique content, even if some of them come from
social sites with user-created content.
However, in education, the convergence of different types of social-presence technology
(with microblogging in the top) became the link between teachers and students and also the direct
contact with the world of educational actors or the needed experts. Thus, in academic life,
microblogging is about the idea of continuous information on what you do, discover and
experience, which in terms of devices and technology, and also in terms of learning mobility and
participants in this process, define microblogging as a new form of mobile and social learning
(Betta, 2007).

4.3. A brief history of the Microblogging term

Online media contain instances of the word microblog/microblogging from as early as
200217. Thus, Natalie Solent wrote the following on her blog, in a post dated 17 July 2002:
Only micro-blogging today. Its Sports Day. Oh, can I make a date with you all for
about this time in the year 2012? By that time my offspring will be, I trust, all grown up,
loaded with achievements and equipped with stratospheric levels of self-esteem. I will then
feel free to tell some very funny stories about the egg and spoon race back in 2002.
Also in 2002, a few months before, Jeneane Sessum posted a note titled Microblogging18, in
which she challenged Internet users to write about their personal experiences, thoughts, emotions,
feelings, using only a few words and short sentences.
The term microblogging, however, only attracted general attention as a major
communication channel in 2007, as a consequence of the fact that Twitter became the main star of
the Southwest Conference in Austin, Texas. On huge screens, the creator of Twitter, Evan Williams,
invited all conference participants to follow what was being presented and discussed. Williams did
not invent a new means of text communication, but his campaign created the conditions needed for
messages to become powerful19.
16 A comparison of notetaking software can be found at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_notetaking_software.
17 See for details http://www.wordspy.com/words/microblogging.asp
18 See for details http://allied.blogspot.com/2002/04/microblogging.html
19 See for details: http://www.blogschmog.net/2007/11/17/a-brief-history-of-microblogging/

44

As Passant et al. (2008) said, in the recent social phenomena of Web 2.0, Twitter is the
missing link between blogging and instant messaging.

4.4. Classifications
The format that is the closest to the microblog is the tumblelog, a less structured variant of a
blog. Accent is placed on the flow of thoughts, as the author concentrates his/her ideas in short
articles and adds colour to the content with pictures, music, videos, quotes and/or links. The main
characteristic of a tumblelog is logical inconsistency, without categories, taxonomies, comments or
even titles.
The first tumblelog ever created is considered to be Anarchaia.org, by Christian Neukirchen,
a place where the author intended to post quickly, without spending too much of his time, about
things that drew his attention. The most popular tumblelog applications are Tumblr and Posterous
(bought by Twitter in March, 2012).
Microblogging also provides the possibility to publish content in a multitude of formats,
which thus gives the first criterion for microblogs typology:
classic only text-format content (in the beginning Twitter being the classic example),
possibly including links;
photo a content published in image formats (DailyBooth, Ifotoyou);
video a microblog with content in video format (59sec-video);
audio a microblog with content in audio format (audioboo.fm, blip.fm);
linking/sharing short-URL services, for instance Delicious as a link compilation;
multimedia a microblog with content in multimedia format (Cirip.eu).
concept - posting topics and gather audiences opinions (Flipter); sharing emotions/feelings
(feelblogr, IRateMyDay.com), location-based service (PingGadget free conversation tool)
etc.
There are also specific digital regimentations according to:
The length of the message: there are variations when the message undergoes dramatic
simplification. Well-known is nanoblogging: the message consists of only one word. A
concrete example of a micro concept taken to the extreme is adocu. Although we fail to see
the interest presented by such an application, we nevertheless try to understand its
usefulness: that of super-synthesis, an in extremis concentration of ideas. Users can
basically write as many characters as they wish, but they cannot use spaces.
The device: for instance mobile-only (qik).
The social presence services. Social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace or
LinkedIn include a microblogging feature as status update20.
The target group: educational-scientific community included (Edmodo, Cirip.eu,
ScienceFeed), organisational (Yammer, Swabr an Enterprise Microblogging Company
from Germany).
The content: corporate, news (CNN), educational, broadcasting, brand (Pepsi), marketing,
artistic, spammer, non-profit, etc.
The user: personal, multi-author, community we can consider them niche microblogs
(twingr).
The language / country: Weibo in China.
The openness of platforms (an open source microblogging platform is identi.ca).
Thus, premises for the appearance of new series of applications / current concepts were
20 There are also location-based services (that identify and publish a person's location), such applications being
Plazes, Foursquare, or Hotlist (the location has a status component too, for sharing information about user's current
activities).

45

created, such as micro-media (for example blogs about the lifestyle in different countries), micronews (opinions of the digital landsmen about subjects of interest or notes about ongoing worldevents), micro-health (for example timeline of a person or population health in certain moments
and/or places) or micro-learning (micro-perspectives in the context of education learning, treaning
and researching). Thus, an entire array of terms have been developed based on the micro- particle:
micromessaging, microsharing, micromedia, microformats, microlinking, microcontent, etc.
(therefore the issue became a subject to be studied from a linguistic point of view, too).
Once they have been engaged in the microblogging phenomenon, many users decide to use
social aggregation services such as FriendFeed or Profilactic, which actually focus on the
quantitative side of users profiles (i.e. managing several accounts) as a premise for the qualitative
analysis of their virtual identities. The virtual identity built on various sites is collected via a
pseudoblog containing the news related to a user from the social networks on which he/she owns
accounts or from suggested URLs/RSS feeds. There is also a flipside: for instance there are
applications that sends micro-posts to many social networks.

4.5. Microblogging Platforms used in Education

4.5.1.Twitter
Twitter, the most popular microblogging system, was launched in July 2006 by Obvious
Corp with the name Twttr, and was renamed as Twitter in the fall of the same year. The company
had started with ten employees, coordinated by Evan Williams, the co-author of Blogger, Jack
Dorsey and Biz Stone.
The initial idea dated back to 2000, when Jack Dorsey started to conceive a simple interface
design for LiveJournal, through which he could enable truly "live" journal entries from wherever
and whenever, developing the concept of providing Web-based access to "status information"21.
Twitter's robust, elegant and simple system has gained important popularity, having 284
million registered users in January 2015, who send 500 million tweets per day, while 80% of the
active users are on mobile22. More than 10 new accounts are created each second and over a
thousand tweets are consumed daily by an active user (Bernstein, et al., 2010). Also 75% of the
World Leaders have Twitter accounts, according to a study by Digital Daya (2012).
The users called twitterers, can tweet via the web, SMS, instant messaging clients and by
third party applications, a percentage of 60% of posts being sent from such applications. The
notifies can be received in real-time as SMS, IM or RSS.
By default posts are publicly visible and are limited to 140 text characters in length; this is
why Twitter was called social networking in 140 characters. Posts may upload or embed images
(from Flickr), video clips (from YouTube or Vine, a company acquired in October 2012) or
presentations (created with SlideShare).
Twitters co-founder Biz Stone argues that "creativity comes from constraint" and also that
"you can change the world in 140 characters"23.
Twitter's original stated purpose was to answer the question "What are you doing?". Later, in
2010, reflecting the taxonomy of users (daily chatter, conversations, sharing information and
reporting news (Java et al., 2007)), focused on the ongoings in the real world, the question became
"What's happening?".
Each user is able to monitor the notes of other users, who will be listed in the profile, under
Following, thus the user becomes their Follower. Twitter suggests also to follow people with similar
profile or to browse users tweeting about specific topics/categories (section @Connect of a user's
21 Blog post http://www.articleinput.com/e/a/title/How-Jack-Dorsey-came-up-with-the-idea-for-Twitter/
22 https://about.twitter.com/company
23 Blog post http://c2mtl.com/biz-stone-talks-in-montreal-%E2%80%93-c2-mtl-loves-the-sound-bytes/

46

profile).
Microblogging offers a way to get past Dunbars number of 15024 (Dunbar is suggesting that
150 is the limit of the number of people we can be heavily engaged with, and this is limited by the
capacity of our brain): on average, a twitterer follows 170 users and has 115 followers; the online
interaction depends on cultural specificity: Brazil has the highest online friends number average
of 481 per user, while Japan has the lowest number just 29 friends per user25. The
interaction/sharing experience on Twitter, and on microblogging platforms in general, can be called
ambient intimacy: "being able to keep in touch with people with a level of regularity and intimacy
that you wouldnt usually have access to, because time and space conspire to make it impossible"26.
Posts can be classified by using hashtags, and you have the option to view either worldwide
trends or local trends, based on your phones location (section #Discover of a user's profile). Users
can retweet or favorite tweets. Hashtags and retweets, now platform core features, were originally
conventions adopted by twitterers, which were later formally implemented by the Twitter staff.
Already a fabric of our digital culture, Twitter is now ingrained in our digital DNA and is
reflected in our lifestyle and how we connect and communicate with one another. Twitter represents
a promising intersection of new media, relationships, traditional media and information to form one
highly connected human network.
(Brian Solis, 2012)
The numerous mashups based on Twitter API have an important contribution to this
platform's popularity, together with the possibility to follow and interact with people worldwide and
to be updated with what is happening around the globe, thus overcoming geographical, economic or
political barriers. For example, tops may be made according to the number of followers or
retweeted posts, such mash-up applications being Tweepz, Twitaholic or WeFollow.
Among the minuses there is the impossibility to create groups, which would preserve the
whole history of interactions between members and private groups would assure privacy, important
in educational settings. A partial solution for groups are the lists, which were implemented in 2009:
a list aggregates together users, a complete tweet stream for everyone appearing on the list's page. A
user can create lists including not followed users and can follow lists built by other users. Another
minus was the search history of four days, too short for some types of applications, such as
following a topic or the reactions to an event, a limit introduced in 2010, but eliminated in 2013.
On March 12, 2012 Twitter acquired the well known mobile blogging platform Posterous, so
innovations in Twitter sharing and mobile features were expected to appear. Instead of these,
Posterous was shut down in April 2013.
The Twitter architecture should support the health, reliability, and scale of the network of
this open, real-time introduction and information service27. Initially built on Ruby on Rails, the
centralised architecture of Twitter has moved to Java in 2011. The core operating system is Linux,
and the database is MySQL. Each tweet is given a unique ID by using a program called
snowflake28, and its geolocation data is noted by Rockdove; after being checked by a combination
URL shortener and spam detector called t.co, the tweet is stored in MySQL (Vaughan-Nichols,
2012). In 2012 Twitter has joined The Linux Foundation: "Twitter's philosophy is to open-source
almost all things", declared Chris Aniszczyk29, open-source manager at Twitter.
24 Note Dunbars Number has limited relevance to social media
http://thefutureplace.typepad.com/the_future_place/2011/06/dunbars-number-has-limited-relevance-to-socialmedia.html
25 Note 99 New Social Media Stats for 2012 http://thesocialskinny.com/99-new-social-media-stats-for-2012/
26 Note Ambient Intimacy http://www.disambiguity.com/ambient-intimacy/
27 Note The Twitter Platform http://blog.twitter.com/2010/05/twitter-platform.html
28 https://github.com/twitter/snowflake
29 http://twitter.com/cra

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A proposal about the addition of meta data to tweets, called annotations, was described in
2010, but has not yet been implemented. The annotations would be a solution for the platform
semantics, that would represent a new sandbox for Semantic Web applications. With a maximum
size of 512 bytes, each annotation adds three new fields to those a tweet already has (authors,
timestamps, replies, locations30): a namespace, key and value - and each tweet can have one or more
annotations31.
Concerning the educational area, a huge amount of academic papers related to integrating
Twitter in teaching-learning process have been written, starting with the pioneering period 20072008 (Java et al., 2007; Grosseck and Holotescu, 2008). Additionally conferences, courses and
workshops have been organized on this topic. Today a growing number of teachers, students, other
educational actors, universities, schools, or scientific events have an identity on Twitter.
Twitter is a good tool for jumpstarting large-scale educational reform, it enables easy
access to educational visionaries from all over the globe, and highlights where government policy is
hopelessly inadequate across the world."
(Justin Marquis, 2012)
The 2010 Faculty Focus survey of nearly 1,400 US higher education professionals found out
that more than a third (35.2%) use Twitter to share information with peers, as a real-time news
source , to communicate with students and as a learning tool in the classroom (Faculty Focus,
2010).
The study of Junco et al. (2011) demonstrated that, in order to have impacts on real-world
academic outcomes, namely student engagement and grades, Twitter usage has to be designed and
facilitated by the faculty in order to support the seven principles for good practice in
(undergraduate) education (Chickering and Gamson, 1987):
(1) student/faculty contact: contact congruent with students' digital lifestyles to be provided;
(2) cooperation among students: students ask each other questions, provide emotional
support to each other, and create and schedule real-world study groups;
(3) active learning: assignments should help students relate the course material to their own
experiences both inside and outside the classroom;
(4) prompt feedback: not only for their assignments, but also for other questions and issues
they could face;
(5) emphasizing time on task: based on the Twitter stream, discussions and learning
community building could continue outside the classroom and also after the course end date;
(6) communicating high expectations: in students' academic work, learning projects, and
out-of-class activities;
(7) respecting diversity: different learning styles, also encourage students who otherwise
may not be active participants in class, to participate online.
Thus, based on their experience using Twitter with their online students, Dunlap and
Lowenthal (2009) offer the following five guidelines:
(1) establish relevance for students
(2) define clear expectations for participation
(3) model effective Twitter use
(4) build Twitter-derived results into assessment
(5) continue to actively participate in Twitter.
Following these guidelines, the Twitter based learning community helped students attend
cognitive presence: "interacting with teachers and other professional practitioners in Twitter, the
students constructed meaning through sustained communication", while faculties for teaching
30 Map of a tweet http://elmack.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/30146338-map-of-a-tweet.pdf
31 Note Twitter Annotations are a big deal http://www.mmmeeja.com/blog/semantic-web/twitter-annotations-rdf.html

48

presence: "the teachers clearly engaged in interactions with students via Twitter attend to
instructional management issues and students knowledge building" (Junco et al., 2011).
Definitely, all these principles could be applied when other microblogging platforms are
used.
4.5.2. Edmodo
Launched in September 2008 and built on a microblogging model, Edmodo is basically a
private online social platform designed specifically for teachers and students to share ideas, files,
events and assignments.
Teachers can publish assignments, receive and grade them when completed, maintain a
class calendar, store and share files, conduct polls and quizzes, and send SMS alerts to students.
Students can easily follow the class stream and see a summary (teacher commentaries included) of
their grades on all assignments (Nevas, 2010).
Edmodo is very good especially in the Elementary grades because it provides a walled
garden that the teacher can supervise and the students can begin to learn about the internet in
relative safety. It is set up and owned by the instructor, but the students add content, fulfill
assignments and can even see the class schedule and chat with friends. One downside of this
technology is the fact that it is teacher-owned and operated. (Williams, 2011)
In March 2012, an API was released, already other applications being connected with
Edmodo32.
The service is free and gained an important popularity, having more than 46 million users in
January 2015, who integrate it in the teaching-learning process33. In a top of Learning Management
Systems published at the end of 2012 (Capterra, 2012), Edmodo is in the second position, between
Moodle and Blackboard, which demonstrates the popularity gained in only a few years by this
microblogging platform, while the other two LMS had more than ten, respectively 15 years to
consolidate their positions in the market.
Case studies on educational uses of Edmodo can be found in a special section of the site34,
and in many presentations on Slideshare (Giacomantonio, 2011), some of the most interesting
being:
Conduct a live online Socratic seminar at an appointed date and time outside of school
classes. Open the session to everyone willing to join and send invites, reading links and
topic to colleagues and students at school;
Groups can be formed for common study of materials, pen pals, reading groups, current
events;
Differentiation - use the small group feature to move students into and out of groups based
on readiness and other factors and deliver appropriate questions to each small group. Its
very easy to move students into and out of small groups so that no one is stuck in a group
he/she doesnt belong;
Embedding presentation tools (glogster, Pixton Comics, voki, animoto, prezi, voicethread,
word clouds);
Coaches and sponsors can use the calendar for important dates/ matches/ meets/ games/
practices. If a practice is cancelled or moved students will receive an immediate notification
text message;
Encourage students to read and help to make their reading experience more engaging within
32 Watters, A. (2012b). Edmodo makes the move from Social network to Educational platform, blog post retrieved from
http://hackeducation.com/2012/03/06/edmodo-makes-the-move-from-social-network-to-education-platform/ on March
12, 2012.
33 Edmodo start page http://www.edmodo.com
34 http://blog.edmodo.com/2011/07/06/ideas-for-using-edmodo-add-yours/

49

an Edmodo book club;

Give students an interactive educational experience through mobile devices;
Create a teacher lounge where teachers can discuss ideas and share content;
After the school year ends, keep in touch with students and help them stay connected with
one another.

Research papers have been also written on the topic of Edmodo: Nevas (2010) attempted to
answer to the question How can the Edmodo microblog increase student engagement and
performance through collaborative learning tasks?, while Holland and Muilenburg (2011)
described a study in which students participated in literature discussions on Edmodo, their initiative
being encouraged and supported by reciprocal teaching strategies.
4.5.3. Plurk
Opened in May 2008, by a company located in Canada, Plurk35 has a unique, relaxed and
intuitive interface, showing updates, called plurks, in horizontal form through a scrollable timeline,
which can be clicked and dragged left and right to reveal more dates.
Plurk is described by its implementation team as: a really snazzy site that allows you to
showcase the events that make up your life in deliciously digestible chunks. Low in fat, 5 calories
per serving, yet chock full of goodness.
Sent online or through instant and text messaging, plurks can contain media such as videos
and images and also qualifiers, which are color coded verbs used to represent a though.
The Karma system, a metric for peoples activity, encourages participation and continued
conversation; more options and features are made available when Karma increases.
"Like" and "Meh" buttons let users vote on statuses.
Plurk is most popular in Philippines and Taiwan (Narkhede et al., 2010).
An exploratory study on Plurk user behaviors categorized plurkers into four types: reality
shows, mood bulletins, kiosks and propaganda vehicles (Tu et al., 2011).
The features to group friends in cliques with whom to share plurks and threaded
conversations are useful for educational settings.
Many educators are using Plurk in their activity and there are some active communities of
edu-plurkers36.
Plurk has interesting educational uses: the platform was used in an university course as an
artificial intelligent software agent, so-called plurk robot; the activities carried out during the course
included teaching, team-working, planning, designing (hardware and software), testing, debugging
(or problem-solving) and applying (Shen, 2010).
4.5.4. Yammer
Yammer37, asking What are you working on?, originally launched in September 2008 as
an enterprise microblogging service, evolving to an enterprise social network, which has now more
than seven million users38.
Its many educational uses are facilitated by characteristics such as: public and private
groups, replies and threaded conversations, file and photo attachments, knowledge bases search,
events, polls, and questions applications, also Twitter and Microsoft SharePoint integration
35 http://www.plurk.com
36 Edu-plurkers communities at http://plurk4educators.com and http://groups.diigo.com/group/plurking-educators.
37 http://yammer.com
38 Blog Note How many people use the Top Social Media, Apps & Services?
http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/resource-how-many-people-use-the-top-social-media

50

(Beliveau et al., 2011; Loh, 2011). Yammer was bought by Microsoft in June 2012, enabling users
to work collaboratively on Microsoft Office documents and to use Yammer features in a SharePoint
Server 2013 on-premises deployment (Microsoft, 2013).
According to Yammer CEO David Sacks, in October 2011 1,692 of more than 100,000
organizations using Yammer are in the educational industry, most of the participants being graduate
students (Wecker, 2011).
Yammer is unique because it allows schools to expand problem-based learning (PBL)
opportunities, where students look up answers to questions and share information with the group,
rather than memorizing lectures. This can be seen as the "brass ring" for teaching problem solving
skills to health professionals (Wecker, 2011).
Yammer proved a flexible environment for a Community of Practice (CoP) about
Information and Communication Technology, at Charles Sturt University, Australia, supporting
blended learning in the light of social presence and organisational culture (Uys, 2010).
It's worth to mention here Sharetronix39, a platform similar with Yammer, which is available
as an Open Source implementation40.
4.5.5. Identi.ca
Identi.ca41 is an open source microblogging service, started in July 2008, which provides
many features not currently implemented by Twitter, including XMPP support, export and exchange
of personal and friend data based on the FOAF standard, trackbacks, native video playback,
OpenID and groups, making the platform an interesting choice for collaboration.
Identi.ca is the first service to support OStatus (formerly OpenMicroBlogging) specification,
an open protocol allowing different microblogging services to inter-operate and people on different
social networks to follow one another (Van Buskirk, 2009). OStatus comes to support decentralised
architectures, important fundamentals of the web, which were generally neglected by
microblogging applications.
Although there arent so many references in literature, identi.ca has gained success in the
higher education sector, see for example the group Women in Higher Education42.
Moreover, a study conducted by Ebner et al. (2010) at University of Graz, Austria, aimed to
investigate the use of microblogs, in particular an implementation of Identi.ca in Higher Education.
The following research questions were addressed:
How are students using microblogging in the context of their course?
Can public and individual timelines using microblogging be used for documentation in the
sense of process tracking by timeline (process-oriented learning)?
Does microblogging foster informal learning?
The researchers analyzed college students' use of microblogs during a course in order to
explore their pedagogical affordances. The results of this study led to the conclusion that
"Microblogging is the opportunity to be a part of someone elses process by reading, commenting,
discussing or simply enhancing it, supporting process-oriented learning by a constant information
flow between students and between students and teachers."
4.5.6. Twiducate
Twiducate43 was launched in 2009, as an educational private social network, having almost
39
40
41
42
43

http://sharetronix.com/
http://developer.sharetronix.com
http://identi.ca
http://identi.ca/womeninhighered
http://www.twiducate.com/

51

170,000 users in January 2015. Even if Twiducate founders are K-8 teachers and the platform was
primarily designed for the pre-university system, it is used in Higher Education settings too (Luo
and Gao, 2012).
The platform is a safe collaboration tool for teachers and students: in class groups they can
post discussions, deadlines, homeworks and quizzes. Images, links (class bookmarks), videos and
documents may be embedded in notes.
A founder pointed out: "Twiducate started as a means to teach students the value and
importance of online privacy. It is also meant to be a new medium for teachers to promote critical
thinking, provide feedback and allow students to collaborate on their work in a microblogging
format. The value for teachers using Twiducate is that the content is private and students never have
to enter an email address."44
Chat is a feature provided by this platform, not found on the others presented here:
Twiducate Chat is excellent for developing metacognitive skills and encouraging your students to
learn from other students (Coles, 2011).
4.5.7. Other Microblogging Platforms
For the current microblogging platforms, the following problems were identified that
prevent the exploitation of this technology to its full potential (Passant et al., 2010; Cheong and
Ray, 2011; Penela et al., 2011; Smith et al., 2012):
centralised architectures which may cause performance bottlenecks, single points of failure
and malicious attacks; thus, decentralised solutions would improve the robustness,
scalability, availability and reliability of the micro-services;
lack of machine-readable meta-data about posts (creation date, author, recipient, etc.);
Twitter has adopted microformats for describing followers (and subscribers) lists, but more
information is require to efciently use meta-data;
lack of semantic in microblog posts, which do not carry any semantics, making their
querying and reuse and the building of any kind of intelligent system on top of them quite
difcult; the #hashtags semantics are not a complete solution, being only channels of
communication and providing a context for the conversation;
information overload because the stream available for a user doesn't take into account his or
her current context;
issues of seamless access, ownership, and control: the competition and lack of integration
among the micro-sharing services lead to the need for the user to fragment his or her own
data into each of these "silos"; once the data has been handed over, the user has little control
over the way it is accessed and visualised, how or where it is stored, and with whom it is
shared or disclosed.
A few microblogging implementations that address these issues are presented in what
follows.
a. Cuckoo is a decentralised, socio-aware microblogging system, built on a hybrid overlay
structure, in that it utilizes peer-to-peer techniques to reduce bandwidth and storage consumption
for the server side based, thus providing scalability and reliability (Xu et al., 2011). Also, a Cuckoo
client maintains the social information and takes advantage of social relations such as friend,
neighbor, follower and followee. For designing Cuckoo, the authors used a 20-day Twitter
availability measurement and evaluated the prototype based on a trace-driven emulation of 30,000
Twitter users. Compared to the centralised approach, Cuckoo achieves 30-50% server bandwidth
44 Blog post http://blog.sagrader.com/2010/01/25/twiducate/

52

savings and 50-60% CPU load reduction, while guaranteeing reliable message delivery, so it
provides good performance for microblogging both as a social network and as a news media.
b. SMOB - Semantic MicrOBlogging - is a distributed and decentralised microblogging
system that relies on (Passant et al., 2010):
ontologies, used to dene common semantics for representing microblog posts:
Semantically-Interlinked Online Communities45 (SIOC) for expressing social data, Friendof-a-Friend46 (FOAF) for dening people, their main attributes and their social
acquaintances, Online Presence Ontology47 (OPO) for describing a users presence/context,
and Meaning Of A Tag48 (MOAT) to model semantic tagging capabilities;
distributed hubs, spread across the Web and used to publish data, exchanging information
(posts and follower / following subscriptions) based on the previous ontologies;
interlinking components, making microblog posts interlinked with other resources on the
Web
faceted presence, so that one can browse status messages corresponding exclusively to his or
her current context.
c. WebBox is a system that supports decentralised and privacy-respecting micro-sharing,
using existing Web standards (Smith et al., 2012). Unlike existing centralised sharing platforms
where data and applications are inextricably tied, on WebBox data can be used by multiple
applications and services and shared directly among peers: user's data can be managed in a single
location, this leading to easier management and reducing fragmentation and redundancy across sites
and services. WebBox exhibits the following key features:
fully-decentralised - each person runs his or her own WebBox, eliminating the need for
central servers;
flexible data representation - shared data can represent any structured data, including future
applications;
granular sharing data - resources can have different granularity, they may also be shared
with individuals or with groups;
secure authentication and personal privacy the system is able to control where data is
stored and with whom it is shared;
Web-based critically - standard Web protocols are used to make it easy to integrate with
existing environments and software.
d. miKrow is an intra-enterprise semantic microblogging tool that allows its users to share
notes expressing what are they doing/working. Each time a user posts a new note, some related
content is offered, taking into consideration the semantic similarity between texts and context
(location) (Penela et al., 2011). miKrow has two main components, a semantic engine and a
microblogging engine, for which Google's Jaiku microblogging platform has been used and
extended. The semantic engine of miKrow implements the semantic indexing and search:
semantic indexing - when a new status message is posted, its content is analyzed and
included into a message index (status repository), allowing future retrieval; similarly, a
repository of expert users (experts repository) is populated by relating the relevant terms of
the message with the particular author;
semantic search - two searches are launched and performed in the background when a new
45
46
47
48

SIOC http://rdfs.org/sioc/spec
FOAF http://xmlns.com/foaf/spec
OPO http://online-presence.net/
MOAT http://moat-project.org/

53

message is posted; the search on the status index returns semantically related status; also, the
search on the experts index returns semantically related people, such as other co-workers
with experience on related areas.

4.6. Educational Uses of Microblogging in terms of opportunities, contexts, challenges,

advantages and limits / risks
4.6.1. Educational opportunities
As the technology of microblogging is adopted in a variety of contexts, its usefulness
becomes more and more compelling for educational actors, from schools and universities, from
training and workplace learning. As a consequence, four microblogging platforms (Twitter,
Edmodo, Yammer, and Cirip.eu) featured the last three tops 100 tools in education, compiled by the
Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies UK from the proposals of hundreds learning
professionals worldwide49.
The aspects most emphasized in literature (Suster, 2010; Gavan, 2011) reveal that
microblogging:
- is a tool for sharing information and resources, bringing also comments and validation of them;
- offers the opportunity to discuss / practice different types of online discourse, and to organize
ideas and reflections;
- creates instant and mindful communities in unexpected environments;
- can be successfully used in the teaching-learning process;
- promotes a collaborative virtual environment which fosters process-oriented learning;
- facilitates the work of multidisciplinary groups;
- is a useful tool for cooperation and collaboration in project management or for assessing peers
and students opinions;
- is a viable platform for meta-cognition;
- is the preferred support for conferences or other events;
- is used in the convergence of knowledge;
- facilitates the creation of a personal learning network;
- allows exploration of colloquial language (important in learning foreign languages);
- can be a reference service in libraries;
- to get instant feedback from students;
- its the ultimate 'wisdom of the crowds' curation application and also a curated RSS.
4.6.2. Didactical context
Although most microblogging platforms are not perfect, different actors from the
educational spectrum have found that microblogging can be successfully adopted and integrated in
the teaching-learning process or in other didactical activities (Java et al., 2007; Parry, 2008;
Reinhardt, Ebner, Beham and Costa, 2009; Grosseck and Holotescu, 2008; Dunlop and Lowhenthal,
2009; Borau et al., 2009; Ebner et al., 2010). As general uses / contexts of microblogging platforms
in education can be underlined:
Learning communities. Communication on microblogs may enhance traditional courses,
by exploring the potential of the microblog in a formal and informal context. It offers
students the opportunity to discuss / exercise various types of online discourses (voice,
aim, audience), to structure their ideas, reflections, it promotes discovery through
serendipity. By incorporating in the instructional environment a social and a group
49

C4LPT (2012). Top 100 Tools 2007-2011, http://c4lpt.co.uk/top-tools/top-100-tools.

54

component, we become more human, more polite, more available and visible for social
activities.
Exploring collaborative writing: Microblogging promotes writing as a pleasant activity,
enhances the students written expression skills, those for lecture, offers students the
chance to pass from personal writing to public writing (evocation, realizing sense,
reflection).
Collaboration between schools, universities, countries: pupils, students, teachers share
ideas, experiences, projects by social learning.
Instrument for evaluating opinions. Used in the academic environment, microblogging
applications develop, stimulate interactions on a certain topic, allowing the expression of
ideas and feelings related to a situation or a life experience.
A viable meta-cognition platform: a way of thinking about ones own way of thinking /
learning / understanding.
Support for conferences or other events (learning sessions, workshops): a very simple
way for the participants in a scientific event to share thoughts about a certain session and
the activities taking place during it, being thus useful for those who cannot participate,
but also for future reflections.
Building a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) / Personal Learning Network (PLN)
for each registered user or accordingly to Howard Rheingold (2011): 'it's not just about
knowing how to find experts, co-learners, but about exploration as invitation to
serendipitous encounter'50.
Research and dissemination tool: Microblogging proved to be one of the most popular
tool used in a professional research context (see the next section). Twitter together with
Skype, Google Docs, and YouTube (CIBER, 2010) are used intensively both 'to share
information with peers' and 'as a real-time news source', being the most common
activities of teachers (Faculty Focus, 2011).

4.6.3. Research context

Perhaps one of the most debated use of microblogging in education is the research. Popular
microblogging services used in research are: Twitter, Friendfeed, Cirip or ScienceFeed
(http://www.sciencefeed.com). The last one is a microblogging platform dedicated to the online
scientific community acting as a 'bridge between online scientific networking platforms, scientific
databases' and scientists from all over the world.
At the question raised by researchers Mayernik and Pepe (2009) 'Can micro-blogging be
used for field research?' we noticed in the literature some answers of the most frequent uses for
different research contexts such as the following (Ovadia, 2009; Costa, 2011; Gilpin, 2010;
Grosseck and Holotescu, 2011):
new form of scholarly communication: 'answer other peoples questions' or 'ask
questions relevant to your practice', getting in touch with science journalists, science
organizations or doctoral students, get advice on how to improve research;
a new form of authoring, publishing, researching;
a tool for disseminating scientific information, including the own results;
a social collection to manage:
o people (e.g. to follow list of researchers on Twitter)
o messages (favorite notes, to resend / to comment - @ / RT; D for scholarship
50
Rheingold, Howard (hrheingold), Explore its not just about knowing how to fiind experts, co-learners, but
about exploration as invitation to serendipitous encounter, 2 January 2011, 4:38 AM Tweet.
https://twitter.com/#!/hrheingold/status/21394804449480704.

55

authority or supporting critical discussions)

o hashtags (social news, following scientific events) etc.;
a data repository to collect:
o information from science newsfeeds and from various individuals / institutions;
o links to other valuable resources;
a search tool 'more appropriate for capturing hyperrcurent information';
an outreach tool aimed at promoting public awareness (and understanding) of science
and making informal contributions to science education;
a platform for social micro-interactions to connect people (building personal relationship
with other researchers, co-colleagues) and also to engage in conversations with an active
community of scientists;
a way to track trends-in-time like natural disasters or political events, mentioned in
messages;
a micro-peer method for learning, reviews, feedback etc.
A recent study (Grosseck and Holotescu, 2011) indicates that academic uses of
microblogging for research purposes range from searching for scholarly content to academic
publishing:
- Search for scholarly content: academics are looking to discover new information, ideas or
practices. By looking for specific ideas the researcher can scan easily the stream for news other
than academic papers, science magazines, data bases, scientific discoveries etc.
- Dissemination channel for promoting of own results / articles / projects or studies / formal
products.
- Tool for reviewing the literature, collecting and analyzing research data, for listening what
other researchers are going to say (Gilpin, 2010).
- Talking and sharing experiences online, communicating scholarly ideas, collaboration between
colleagues, networks of stakeholders, and other contacts.
- Building a network of contacts for research opportunities, finding sponsors, reaching fellow
specialists; thus the development of a Personal Research Network (PRN) is appropriate not only
for 'establishing professional expertise' but also for 'professional identity construction' (Gilpin,
2010).
- Monitoring scientific events: nowadays following conferences and posting from scientific events
(with a special hashtag) is a common practice; communication before, during and after the
event, using microblogging as official, quasi-official or unofficial back-channel, for
collaborative keynotes, and feedback.
- Scholarly publishing and capturing contextual information.
Other studies suggest that the researchers behavior changed due to the social participatory process
in micro-sphere stressing the need to create an online research profile on microblogging, what we
called a micro-scholarly identity 2.0.
4.6.4. Potential disadvantages
There are also some potential withdraws in using microblogging in educational settings,
such as:
can be too distracting (or at least too distracting for some students, like someone with
autism, attention deficit disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome etc.);
is a time-consuming task both for students and teachers who 'already have too many places
to post messages or check for student questions/comments'51;
51
As one professor put it, 'I have no interest in adding yet another communication tool to my overloaded life.'
(Faculty Focus, 2011)

56

can be addictive;
(sometimes) no social / educational value;
teachers are being on-call virtually 24-7 and students can intrude into his/her private life;
in classroom situations is better to have a private account (also students have to be warning
and encouraging their anonymity and thoughtful postings otherwise);
'creates poor writing skills and could be yet another classroom distraction's (Faculty Focus,
2011).
Regarding the research, the disadvantages, barriers or limits of integrated microblogging can
be included into one of these categories:
Ethical dilemmas: authority; coping with a large amount of information; the level of
acceptability to collect, archive and analyze data from the stream; 'authenticity of crowd
sourced information' (CIBER, 2010); intellectual property rights; new forms of peer
review and approval, such as retweeting (for e.g. resending messages without giving
credit); social citation sharing; trust etc.
Concerns about quality: quality of ideas / information / assurance (poor studies, no
substantial academic / scientific values; banality); drain on resources; too time
consuming; reliability and expertise of microbloggers; disorganized information
(sometimes a chaotic stream); common language (the human chemistry is all adrift); poor
linguistic conventions (for e.g. difficulty of writing a math formula); limited
communication options (short messages - only the length of a SMS); week feedback etc.
Security and privacy concerns: information overload; noise; spam; juxtaposition with the
personal life; confusing in following too many interactions; uncertainty of the identity of
sender; plagiarism, lack of a code of microblogging ethics etc.
In order to actually reach the previously mentioned results and to limit the bad points, a well
planned usage of microblogging in the teaching-learning process we suggest as necessary: the
description of educational objectives, the orientation of education according to certain concrete
landmarks, the construction of efficient learning situations, the planning of adequate evaluation
tools.
4.6.5. Challenging advantages
Our previous experience (Holotescu and Grosseck, 2010) in integrating microblogging in
the academic courses enabled them to notice the following aspects related to students:
Development of written communication skills and especially multimedia skills (in a variety
of forms and contexts).
Creativity and intellectual curiosity openness and receptivity to the new, communicating
ideas, different perspectives on current technological reality (and not only).
Information and media skills creating information in various forms and environments.
Since students are offered managerial attributions in connection to their own learning, the
degree of their personal and social responsibility is thus improved.
Capacity to adapt.
Development of critical and systemic thinking.
Demonstration of interpersonal and collaboration skills through team-work, adapting to
various roles and responsibilities.
Identifying, creating and solving issues.
Auto-formation during courses we noticed the maintenance of a competitive spirit among
participants.
Entertainment (as a function of sensory stimulation). It is known that each online learning
activity should include an entertaining component, which also facilitates learning in the real57

world context.
On the other hand, the benefits of using microblogging for research purposes can be
clustered in the following types:
Collective Intelligence: communication; collaboration with a wider audience of specialists,
sharing ideas and perspective, interdisciplinary research; collecting / surveying / filtering
data and resources.
Ambient Intelligence: visibility and validation of projects, results, professional portfolio,
recognition.
Extension of the PRN Personal Research Network: building and engaging (in) a relevant
community of scholars / of practice, beyond geographical, cultural and linguistic barriers;
mentoring colleagues; transfer of knowledge between researchers; help in problem solving;
build networks to support research (and researchers career); access to OERs and
collaborative applications.
Managing the researchers projects: research publishing; tagging contents; getting notified
using RSS feeds.
Developing as a researcher: improving digital and professional skills and competencies
help for academic career.

4.7. Conclusions
Microblogging is here to stay: as an effective tool for professional development and for
collaboration with students and peers, that can change the rules of the teaching-learning process and
models good pedagogy responsive to student's learning needs and challenging teachers to revisit
their roles as educators. It also incorporates innovative characteristics or allows for mash-ups
identified by the Horizon Report 2012 as emerging technologies likely to have a large impact over
the coming three years in education around the globe: cloud computing, mobile and tablet
computing, social reading, adaptive learning environments or augmented reality (NMC Horizon
Report, 2012).
For the time being, microblogging is a source of intellectual optimism, a fact of life, which
will increasingly become a fact of learning at all ages and levels of education. Thus, the current
debates on whether or not to introduce microblogging into (higher) education are useful but
ultimately worthless without experience, creativity and innovation the desire to think of the
educational process in completely new terms. We also hope that the present chapter represents an
invitation to future reflections and studies for reviewing, expanding and validating the theoretical
basis of using microblogging by all educational actors.
The existing open/general microblogging platforms such as Twitter or Identi.ca offer the
characteristics of communication/collaboration and ePortfolio visibility, but those for courses'
privacy or history (groups) are missing.
The educational microblogging platforms such as Edmodo or Twiducate, which integrate
group and LMS features, do not offer the possibility to interact with external experts, nor to built a
public PLE.
As part of the first phase of the DBR approach (Figure 2.3), the features, architectures and
educational usages of the platforms highlighted in this chapter are used in formulating the
requirements of the educational platform, presented in Chapter 6, for mapping the proposed Open
Learning Environment model.
4.7.1. Contributions
A comprehensive analysis of the features, uses and architectures of educational microblogging
platforms was presented in this chapter and published in (Holotescu and Creu, 2013).
58

Chapter 5. Emerging Technologies in Romanian Higher Education

5.1. Introduction
As part of the first phase of the DBR approach (Figure 2.3), the aims of the study presented in
this chapter are:
to gather information on ways in which Romanian academic staff are adopting new
educational technologies and applications;
to find out best usages;
to identify expected features;
to examine policies related to new technologies use in Romanian education.
The findings have been considered in formulating the requirements for the educational
platform, presented in the next chapter.

5.2. Research Methodology. Objectives and questions

To ensure these objectives are met, the following research questions are proposed:
How faculty members use new educational technologies/Social Media as reflective and
collaborative teaching and learning tools, also for research and professional
development?
Which are the potential benefits, challenges, and disadvantages in using new educational
technologies/Social Media in universities?
Which is the relation between these technologies and mobile learning?
How the usage can be extended, is there a need for training the educational actors in this
topic?

Method

For collecting the necessary information, we conducted an online questionnaire, publicized

via academic networks of the university, relevant academic mailing lists and personal learning
networks.
Data collecting was performed between the end of February and the beginning of March
2012, with 79 respondents/answers, after validation. Because only a few people from our networks
re-send the link to the questionnaire, it was difficult to calculate the response rate.

5.3. Summary of findings

a.Respondents profile
Based on the findings obtained from the sample group well begin with basic information
about respondents profile. Who are they? By gender 41 are male (52%) and 38 female (48%). By
age the higher percent is allocated to the population between 36-45 years old (37%) 43% having
less than 35 years.

59

Table 5.1. Distribution of respondents by age

7 individuals (9%) were less than 25 years of age
27 (34%) are between 26-35 years
29 (37%) of them were between 36 and 45 years old
11 (14%) are between 46-55 years and
only 5 of them were older than 55
What is their academic profile? What is their role in higher education?
We managed to attract a wide variety of respondents at different stages of their academic
careers:
Professor 5% (4);
Reader 15% (12);
Senior lecturer 19% (15);
Junior lecturer -14% (11);
Researcher 5% - (4);
Professor doctorate coordinator - 1% (1);
Academic administrator/Faculty development 4% (3);
Other - 36% (29).

Where Other includes respondents who are in non-academic positions such as librarians,
admission officers, trainers/instructors, doctoral candidates or master students, etc.
While at first glance the results suggest that the categories were not comprehensive enough,
we tried to cover all disciplines ranging from mathematics to medical sciences:
almost half of the respondents (43%) aligned themselves with the exact sciences disciplines
(i.e. mathematics, physics, biology, informatics, engineering, earth sciences),
24% (19) identify themselves as aligned with a discipline of social sciences (psychology,
education, social work, political sciences),
13% are related with medical domain,
8 persons are humanistic oriented (foreign languages, philosophy, journalism, law) and
only 8% are in the economic area (management, marketing, human resources, public
relations, administrative issues etc.).
We didnt take into consideration some demographic characteristics such as: how many
years a member staff worked in higher education, the type of institution (college/university, public
or private), size of the organisation, tuition / without fees etc. - these issues will be addressed and
detailed in a future research.
b.Social Media accounts profile
A second group of questions collected data about the specific Social Media platforms on
which the respondents are active, how they use them and what are the benefits and limits
encountered.
On most Social Media platforms:
90% of users are passive lurkers who never contribute,
9% are active lurkers who reshare or comment,
while only 1% are content creators or co-creators (Nielsen, 2006).
Do Romanian educational actors follow this Social Media Engagement Rule?
The question How do you use the following Social Media? refers to the use only for
documentation or also for content creation of a large area of networks and Social Media platforms.
60

The analysis of these large categories, constituting an original classification of Social Media
networks and applications presented in Chapter 3, makes an important difference between our
investigation and other studies (Faculty Focus, 2011; Moran et al., 2011).
Table 5.2. Social Media Usage
Social media networks and applications around
content used for

Blog (Blogger, WordPress, weblog.ro)

Miniblog (Tumblr.com, Posterous.com)
Microblog (Twitter.com, Cirip.ro, Plurk.com,
Edmodo.com)
General Social Networks (Facebook.com,
Plus.Google.com, MySpace.com)
Professional Social Networks (LinkedIn.com, Xing.com,
Academia.edu, Researchgate.net, Mendeley.com)
Social Bookmarking (Delicious.com, Diigo.com)
Video sharing (Youtube.com, Vimeo.com, TED.com,
TeacherTube.com, Trilulilu.ro, MyVideo.ro)
Image sharing (Flickr.com, Picasa.Google.com,
deviantART.com)
Audio/Podcasting sharing (Blip.fm, SoundCloud.com)
Presentation sharing (Slideshare.net, Authorstream.com,
Prezi.com)
Document/Books sharing (Scribd.com, DocStoc.com,
Docs.Google.com, Books.Google.com)
Mindmaps (Mindomo.com, Mindmeister.com,
Spicynodes.org)
Screencasting (Screenr.com, ScreenJelly.com,
ScreenCastle.com)
Livestreaming (Qik.com, UStream.com)
Feeds Monitoring (Reader.Google.com, Bloglines.com)
Wiki (Wikispaces.com, MediaWiki.org, Wikia.com,
PBWorks.com)
Digital storytelling (Voicethread.com, Glogster.com,
Capzles.com, Notaland.com, Storybird.com, Storify.com,
Photopeach.com, Projeqt.com)

Documen
tation %

Not a user
%

22
14
19

Post
notes/
content
%
44
6
29

10

68

22

28

48

24

10
46

23
43

67
11

29

49

22

10
22

10
39

80
39

32

56

13

18

76

13

84

6
24
44

9
24
34

85
52
22

15

85

34
80
52

Almost all respondents are aware of the large categories of platforms, for documentation
only or also to post notes/content (Table 5.2). The most popular seems to be those for multimedia
content sharing:
video 89% of responders declared that they use such platforms,
documents/books - 88%,
image 78%,
and in all cases at least half post content.
The large interest for the documents/books sharing (88%) and presentation sharing platforms
(61%) has confirmed the social reading trend in the 2012 Horizon Report in higher education.
However, we can note that the platforms for podcasting and audio sharing are at the opposite pole
61

of interest only 20% of respondents use them.

More than two third are active on wikis (78%), general networks (78%), professional
networks (76%) and blogs (66%), and half of them post content on these platforms, the highest rate
of postings being on general networks (68%).
Half of respondents (48%) monitor feeds to keep track of news and activate on microblogs.
As one of the most important usage of microblogging is for news searching - 56% (Grosseck and
Holotescu, 2011b), the micro-posts streams can be seen as curated feeds, containg news, but also
comments and validation. Only 20% pay attention on miniblogs (such as Tumblr and Posterous).
Even if with very interesting and challenging uses, such as collaborative work on scenarios,
tutorials and micro-lectures, the educators show a low interest on mindmapping (24%),
screencasting (16%) or digital storytelling platforms (15%). An explanation could be the fact that to
use such platform you need to be and keep informed, to activate in online communities where to
learn and share ideas and experiences.

Figure 5.1. Users of Social Media platforms

Calculating an average for all the platforms, we can affirm that 31% of respondents create

content, a percentage much higher than 9% for active lurkers and 1% for creators. But before
concluding that the Romanian educational actors are breaking the Social Media Engagement Rule
(Nielsen, 2006), we should not forget that the questionnaire responses were received from active
users who wanted to get involved in this research approach.
Table 5.3. Platforms for Communication/Collaboration/Location-based
Do you use the following Social Media for
communication/collaboration/location-based?
Groups (Groups.Google.com, Groups.Yahoo.com, Ning.com,
Meetup.com)
Forums/Spaces for discussions(phpBB.net, Quora.com, Disqus.com)
Location-based (Foursquare.com, Yelp.com, Zvents.com)
Augmented reality (Layar.com, Wikitude.com, Zooburst.com)
Virtual worlds/Social Games (Secondlife.com, Playdom.com,
OpenSimulator.org)
IM (YM, GTalk, Jabber, Skype)

Number

Percent

71

90

26
8
6
7

33
10
8
9

53

67

62

If the groups or IM tools, which can be considered as Web 1.5 applications, are used by a
large majority (90% and 67% respectively), the new discussions applications, such as Quora or
Disques, appear familiar for only 33% of respondents, location-based for 10%, augmented reality
(AR) for 8% and virtual worlds/social games for 9%. This figures can be correlated with the issue
that the experience in integrating such tools in education is lower, also with the fact that the
applications for location-based and AR are mobile we'll see that a relative low percentage of
educators use mobiles or tablets/ipads.
At the question What other Social Media tools/categories do you use? even if only a few
answers were received, they are very interesting and worth to be mentioned: collaborative graphs
and infographs, desktop sharing applications (BeemYourScreen), eLearning platforms (Moodle,
Sharepoint) with Social Media features, platforms for social learning (Schoology), for project
management (Basecamp), or for software engineering (GitHub).
Table 5.4. Are the following statements true for you?
Statements related to Social Media

I access Social Media via mobile

I access Social Media via tablet / ipad
I evaluate the activity of my students on Social Media
platforms
My institution assesses my activity on Social Media
platforms
My institution encourages/supports the usage of Social
Media by teachers/students/pupils
My institution has specific policies related to Social Media
usage
I became familiar with SM during a course/ workshop/
project

Yes
(%
)
46
15

Not yet, but

Im aware of
it (%)
27
48

No
(%)

30

27

43

15

24

61

34

30

35

15

37

48

30

66

28
37

Almost half of the respondents access Social Media platforms using mobile phones, while
only 15% are equipped with tablets / ipads. A third (28%, respective 37%) seems not to be
interested in using mobiles or tablets / ipads for this purpose.
The percentage of teachers (30%) who evaluate the activity of their students on Social
Media platforms is very close to that of teachers (34%) coming from institutions which encourage
and support the use of Social Media by teachers/students/pupils. However, we can note that the
institutions of only 15% of responders assess their activity on Social Media platforms or have
specific policies related to Social Media usage.
Even if only one third of educational actors became familiar with Social Media during a
course, workshop or project, a very low percentage (4%) are interested to participate in such a
training.
c.Practices and reasons for Social Media usage
A breakdown of educational actors awareness in using Social Media in different activities
appears in the following table.

63

Table 5.5. Do you use Social Media for the following activities?
Yes I have
Not yet, but Im aware of
No
used
it
didactical activities
61%
18%
22%
research activities
58%
20%
22%
professional development
78%
11%
10%
personal development
78%
8%
14%
The greatest percentage (78%) are using Social Media for professional and personal
development, while high percentages are also for those who use such tools for didactical activities
(61%) and research activities (58%). We can say that there is a true adoption of Social Media in all
the domains of the educational process, the rate being much higher than that concerning only the
specific technology of microblogging (Freire and Brunet, 2010).
The survey showed there is a relative small group of educators (10-22%) who believe that
Social Media has no place in education.
Regarding the mode of communication and collaboration (At which level of communication
and collaboration do you use Social Media?) we see that Social Media are a medium used at all
levels, with peers from their own country or abroad, by around two third of responders. Again the
percentages are much higher than those for microblogging, which still has a narrow adoption
(Grosseck and Holotescu, 2010), the same note is available for the next question too. What seems
surprising here is that the lower level of own department/faculty (with the highest f2f interaction) is
the one where Social Media tools are highly used, by 77% of responders.
Activities

Table 5.6. Levels of Communication/Collaboration

I work with
Peers from different institutions from Romania
Collaborators in different institutions from other countries
Colleagues / peers across my university / institution
Peers and Doctoral and Master students of my own department /
faculty

Number
52
47
49
61

Percent
66%
59%
62%
77%

The following table includes what our study have been revealed regarding the most common
types of uses of Social Media by scholarly community.
Table 5.7. Contextual conditions in which scholars use Social Media
Activities
Number
Searching news, academic content
70
Dissemination of own results, articles, projects, presentations
49
Inquiring/research (reviewing literature, collecting/analyzing research
52
data)
Personal / Professional Communication / Collaboration
65
Networking for professional development
36
Building a community of practice
24
Building a learning community with students enrolled in formal
30
courses
Participating / following different scientific events (as a real time news52
source)

Percent
89%
62%
66%
82%
46%
30%
38%
66%

64

The findings indicate that Social Media usages by educational actors are:
Search for scholarly content - the highest percentage of responders (89%) are looking to
discover news, ideas, experiences, articles and projects.
Dissemination channels for promoting own results / articles / projects or presentations appreciated as being powerful by 62% of respondents.
66% say that Social Media tools are important in reviewing the literature, collecting and
analyzing research data.
Sharing professional experiences online, communicating scholarly ideas, collaborating
with peers or with networks of stakeholders are favorite activities for 82% of users.
Building a network of contacts for research opportunities, for finding sponsors or for
reaching fellow specialists was indicated by 46% of the responders.
Less than one third (30%) appreciate the power of sharing, skills development or
knowledge creation by building communities of practice.
A percentage of 38% shows a low interest in building learning communities, student
centered. Thus we can say faculty members are (still) unprepared to integrate Social
Media in their courses.
Nowadays following presentations, livestreamings, videos and posting from scientific
events is a common practice, adopted by two third of responders (66%).
The questionnaire has also two open-ended questions asking respondents to list / to identify
main advantages and constraints to uptake when using Social Media in higher education. Almost all
the respondents share their impressions, which ranged from positive general comments to negative
remarks, like I think Social Media are very useful for communication and collaboration to I just
dont get it.
Although Social Media redefines the relation between technology and education, using it in
academic courses does not represent an easy teaching / training / researching and learning method.
It implies a sum of efforts, and especially knowledge of these technologies, with both benefits and
limits.
Advantages expressed by participants (some of them are listed in the respondents own
words):
accessibility and ease of usage (anyone can create a blog or a YouTube account in just a
few minutes), including mobile Social Media devices and applications (smartphone,
tablets, qr-codes, augmented reality etc.);
cost reduction (low educational marketing costs) most Social Media sites offer access to
services, information and the community free of charge;
flexibility, transparency and autonomy of applications;
educational recruit ability in social networks; the results support what (Barnes and
Lescault, 2011) study documented: higher education institutions are using especially
social networking sites, not only to recruit but to research prospective students;
changing teachers attitudes towards using Social Media in academic courses (taking
academics out of their usual comfort zone);
engaging / enriching / empowering students interactions and participation through the
use of Social Media in academic environments;
collaborative characteristics / features which erase the barriers between formal and
informal/non-formal learning;
establishing relationships and conversations among teachers, students, professionals,
researchers from different institutions;
facilitating learning through personal learning networks / environments (peer-to-peer
learning and mentoring);
social interactions in communities for learning, practicing, as well as professional ones
65

(learning from experts and peers);

teaching / learning digital skills like creation, curation and sharing online/digital
content/knowledge;
easily-accessible creativity / accumulative information;
use of authentic study materials, some of them in real-time (i.e. microblogging is an
easy way to engage in dialogues with anyone, for instance);
a non-conformist and flexible academic environment (easy socialization);
facilitating the processes of providing information, of building knowledge (a modern
approach of educational subjects);
feedback (one can receive ideas, suggestions and opinions from mere visitors, one can
update the strategy or educational services, or improve the course);
easy monitoring online presence and reputation;
collaborative participation - developing research projects at distance;
using open education in terms of: open source / free software, open educational
resources, open content, open access publication, open teaching, open scholarship.
Almost all of the respondents highlighted barriers or limits of using Social Media in higher
education. Based on their responses, it appears that most of the comments are related to the
following disadvantages:
content trivialisation caused by a lack of validation procedures (the crowdsourcing
effect);
security of data and persons;
aggressive / mistrusted / unfiltered information flows;
online information / cognitive overload, advertising interference, informational abuse,
spam, disorientation, infoxication, fragmentation etc.;
equality or e-quality (anyone can publish web content, but not everyone offers quality
content; unsolicited content);
neglecting the educational goals / purposes / social limitations;
difficult management of digital identity / anonymity: fake IDs and hiding ones real
identity have been and will continue to be issues;
ethical concerns: proper professional behaviour in the use of Social Media:
confidentiality, defamation, following university regulations / the academic Social Media
policy;
institutional norms / terms of use and best practices in the field, disadvantages policies
for educational sector (i.e. in Romania there are no academic clear rules regarding the use
of social web tools in education; there is also a need to have a unique platform for the
entire university / professional staff);
time spent on Social Media sites: all things require time and dedication, and Social Media
entails online presence, dialogue and sustained activity;
Social Media also requires a certain life style and/or an organisational culture in the
digital era;
emotional barriers: perceptions of technology, anxiety related to its use, lack of
confidence in their potential and negative personal experiences related to technology;
artificial communication: written communication vs oral communication (online vs f2f);
the noise , pseudo-relationships, in-appropriate reactions, personal exposure etc.;
the activity with / within Social Media isnt recognised as academic (more specific it
doesnt count in periodic assessment, also lack or rewards for those who use new tools).
For the time being, we can say that only a few universities have adopted coherent strategies
for the pedagogical integration of social web functions and the development of the best methods for
teaching and learning based on these. Thus, for a more accurate picture of Social Media landscape
66

in academia it is necessary to repeat the study at least for several years to provide a longitudinal
look at adoption of Social Media by colleges and universities.
To summarize: Could Social Media be a main communication / collaboration / sharing
channel in the Aula? Or does it rank low among other online applications/platforms? Do we know
which Social Media tools / applications are most used by faculty members? Which are the most
popular within teachers communities? And how are they used: for continuous exchanges of
information with their target audience? for communicating? for obtaining feedback on students or
research projects? for increasing the notoriety of study or training, as well as scholarships? for other
competitions, campaigns, non-profit events / fundraisings, volunteer activities, promoting university
missions etc.? These are topics that need to be further explored.
It is also necessary to build online communities for professional learning, academic practice,
quality and leadership for managers of institutions, as well as for the people involved in both
teaching and administration. There should be more Social Media platforms dedicated to
communities of education experts (policies, foresight, etc.), there should be an institution-wide
Social Media Observer that strengthens university policies related to Social Media at the level of
the higher education institution and that represents, at the same time, a landmark for the strategic
positioning of universities within the new technological landscape.
However, an informal Social Media educational platform, functioning in conjunction with
the official platform, will not only become an extremely efficient communication channel, but will
also emphasize the culture of the students and that of the staff of the institution in question. The
most important type of feedback will continue to be interactivity.

5.4. Conclusions
Despite Social Media popularity among staff (Merrill, 2011) and of the predominantly
positive perceptions of it among higher education institutions, the use of Social Media does not
come easily (Harris and Rea, 2009) and is still at the level of experimentation, as it is trying to find
its place in the online environment.
In the meantime, Academia must free itself from its fears, prejudices and arrogance. In order
for this to happen, the management of higher education institutions must change, firstly by
acknowledging the need to have a Social Media presence, and then by providing clear regulations
regarding its use (private life, protecting intellectual property, etc.). It is also important to recognize
the importance of Social Media in the recruitment of students, dissemination of research and brand
building (alumni included), as an engagement tool and not as a megaphone (Colvin, 2011).
Furthermore, we need assigning Social Media responsibilities within faculties and departments.
Thus, the organisational charts of our institutions should include new positions such as: learning
architect, learning / Social Media community manager, serious game designer or learning autonomy
counselor (Grosseck and Holotescu, 2011a).
Perhaps the most significant approach of using Social Media in universities is the fact that it
is more a socio-cultural phenomenon, rather than a technical one, an attitude rather than a sum of
technologies, the fact that it has become more personal to the students, emphasizing the
development of communities of learning and practice and the strength of something done together.
We can conclude also that there are needed:
policies related the use of new educational technologies in education
teacher training in using emerging technologies
online spaces for students / teachers / practitioners to share learning scenarios.
The integration of different SM platforms into OLE could bring solutions for the above last
two issues.
The conclusions are important in depicting the requirements of the educational platform.

67

5.4.1. Contributions
The study on the usages, challenges and policies regarding the integration of emerging
technologies in Romanian education, for teaching, learning and professional development is the
original contribution of this chapter, being the first with this topic in the country. The results were
published in (Holotescu and Grosseck, 2012).

68

Chapter 6. Requirements analysis for an educational multimedia microblogging

platform

6.1. Introduction
In order to establish the set of features needed for the platform architecture, as part of the
second phase of the DBR approach (Figure 2.3), we have realized a study of Social Media platforms
and applications, comparing the content creation/sharing and communication/collaboration
functionalities they offer. After identifying the most innovative characteristics and discussing how
they can be improved, a set of requirements for the educational platform is generated.
The study includes:
6 microblogging platforms used in education, already described before: Twitter, Edmodo,
Plurk, Identi.ca, Yammer and Twiducate;
23 categories of Social Media networks and applications, covering the current Social Media
landscape (Solis and JESS3, 2010) and educational tops (Hart, 2014), presented in Chapter
3 and 5:
17 categories for content sharing
6 categories for communication/collaboration/location-based.

6.2. Identifying the functionalities of Social Media platforms

The list of 25 functionalities we have identified for our study is the result of the direct
work/test of the platforms and of consulting similar studies:
Pistachio Consulting (2008) realized a study of 19 enterprise microsharing applications,
using a number of 19 criteria, while
the study of (Smith et al., 2012) considered a set of 15 types of Social Media applications,
based on 8 capabilities.
Below the identified functionalities are briefly described:
1. Software License (proprietary/OS) application is proprietary or Open Source;
2. Hosting application directly hosts the (multimedia) content or only embeds it;
3. Tagging support for content classification using tags;
4. Groups (Private/Public) support for user groups;
5. (Nested) Comments support for comments chronologically or hierarchically (nested)
organized;
6. Access to group documents support for group users to access group (common)
documents;
7. Private posts posts visible only to owner (and to friends);
8. Private profile profile visible only to owner (and to friends);
9. Public profile/portfolio/stream support for building a public profile with the activity on
the platform;
10. Direct/Private Messages support to send direct/private messages to other users;
11. Resend (Retweet) possibility to resend a post of another user, which will appear in the
own stream;
12. Feeds platform provides feeds for different streams (users, groups);
13. Statistics statistics and visualisations for users/groups activity;
14. Multimedia objects the possibility to post multimedia content: video, audio, images,
69

presentations, files, etc., marked below with v a i p f;

15. Monitor Web/e-mail/SMS/API/Feed/IM a user can monitor messages/content via the
online interface/e-mail/SMS/API/Feed/IM, marked below with w e s a f i;
16. Post Web/e-mail/SMS/API/Feed/IM - a user can monitor messages/content via the online
interface/e-mail/SMS/API/Feed/IM, marked below with w e s a f i;
17. Location user location is identified and posted (checked-in);
18. Users/Resources Recommender support for similar user and/or interesting resources
recommendation;
19. Mobile Interface application provides an interface for mobiles;
20. API application provides an Application Programming Interface (API);
21. Import/ Export notes (re-sharing) support for import/export content from/to other
applications;
22. Need confirmation for follow in order to monitor other users' stream, their
confirmation is needed;
23. Surveys support for creating surveys/polls;
24. Collaborative editing possibility to edit content collaboratively;
25. Share/discuss Learning Design support for share/discuss content (formalization)
related to Learning Design.

Private posts

Access to group documents

(Nested) Comments

6.3. Comparing Social Media platforms

4

10

11

12 13

Statistics

Feeds

Resend (Retweet)

Direct/Private Messages

Public profile/portfolio/stream

Private profile

Groups (Private/Public)

Tagging

Software License
(proprietary/OS)
Hosting

0 Platform

a Microblogging Platforms
1 Twitter

2 Edmodo

3 Plurk

4 Identi.ca

OS

5 Yammer

6 Twiducate

lists

n+

+
+

n+

b Social Media networks and applications for content sharing

1 Blog (Blogger,

P/
OS

+/-

3 General Social Networks P/

WordPress, weblog.ro)

2 Miniblog (Tumblr.com,

+/-

Posterous.com)
(Facebook.com,

OS

70

Plus.Google.com,
MySpace.com)

4 Professional Social

-/+

Networks
(LinkedIn.com,
Xing.com,
Academia.edu,
Researchgate.net,
Mendeley.com)

5 Social Bookmarking

+/-

+/-

10 Document/Books sharing P

(Delicious.com,
Diigo.com)

P/
OS

6 Video sharing

P/
(Youtube.com,
OS
Vimeo.com, TED.com,
TeacherTube.com,
Trilulilu.ro, MyVideo.ro)

7 Image sharing

(Flickr.com,
Picasa.Google.com,
deviantART.com)

8 Audio/Podcasting
sharing (Blip.fm,
SoundCloud.com)

9 Presentation sharing

(Slideshare.net,
Authorstream.com,
Prezi.com)
(Scribd.com,
DocStoc.com,
Docs.Google.com,
Books.Google.com)

11 Mindmaps

-/+

13 Livestreaming (Qik.com, P

(Mindomo.com,
Mindmeister.com,
Spicynodes.org)

12 Screencasting

(Screenr.com,
ScreenJelly.com,
ScreenCastle.com)
+

UStream.com)

14 Feeds Monitoring
(Reader.Google.com,
Bloglines.com)

15 Wiki (Wikispaces.com,
MediaWiki.org,
Wikia.com,
PBWorks.com)

16 Digital storytelling

P/
OS

-/+

P/
OS

(Voicethread.com,
Glogster.com,
Capzles.com,
Notaland.com,
Storybird.com,

71

Storify.com,
Photopeach.com,
Projeqt.com)

17 Learning design

(Cloudworks.ac.uk)

c Social Media for communication/collaboration/location-based

1 Groups

P/
(Groups.Google.com,
OS
Groups.Yahoo.com,
Ning.com, Meetup.com)

2 Forums/Spaces for

P/
discussions(phpBB.net, OS
Quora.com, Disqus.com)

3 Location-based

n+

+/-

n+

+/-

+/-

+/-

(Foursquare.com,
Yelp.com, Zvents.com)

4 Augmented reality

(Layar.com,
Wikitude.com,
Zooburst.com)

5 Virtual worlds/Social

Games (Secondlife.com,
Playdom.com,
OpenSimulator.org)

6 IM (YM, GTalk, Jabber, P/

Skype)

OS

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

Share/discuss Learning Design

14

Collaborative editing

Surveys

Table 6.1. Social Media Platforms Comparison (a)

Legend: online interface w, e-mail e, SMS s, API a, Feed f, IM i;
multimedia content: video - v, audio - a, images - i, presentations - p, files - f;
the functionality is present +, is not present -

API

Import/ Export notes (re-sharing)

2 Edmodo

va wsa wsa

Need confirmation for follow

Mobile Interface

Location

vi wes wes +
p afi afi

Monitor Web/e-mail/SMS/
API/Feed/IM
Post Web/e-mail/SMS/
API/Feed/IM

1 Twitter

Multimedia objects

Users/Resources Recommender

0 Platform

a Microblogging

+
72

ip f
f
3 Plurk

iv wsa wsa
fi
i

4 Identi.ca

waf wai
i

5 Yammer

va wes wes
ip afi afi
f

6 Twiducate

va w
if

b Social Media networks and applications for content sharing

1 Blog (Blogger,
WordPress, weblog.ro)

2 Miniblog (Tumblr.com,
Posterous.com)

va wae
ipf f

waef

va wae
i
f

waef

3 General Social Networks v a w a f w a f

(Facebook.com,
Plus.Google.com,
MySpace.com)

+/-

ip

4 Professional Social

va waf
Networks (LinkedIn.com, i p
Xing.com,
Academia.edu,
Researchgate.net,
Mendeley.com)

5 Social Bookmarking

waf

waf

wa

waf

wa

waf

wa

8 Audio/Podcasting sharing a

waf

wa

waf

wa

1 Document/Books sharing f
0 (Scribd.com,

waf

wa

11 Mindmaps

(Delicious.com,
Diigo.com)

6 Video sharing
(Youtube.com,
Vimeo.com, TED.com,
TeacherTube.com,
Trilulilu.ro, MyVideo.ro)

7 Image sharing
(Flickr.com,
Picasa.Google.com,
deviantART.com)
(Blip.fm,
SoundCloud.com)

9 Presentation sharing
(Slideshare.net,
Authorstream.com,
Prezi.com)

DocStoc.com,
Docs.Google.com,
Books.Google.com)

(Mindomo.com,

73

Mindmeister.com,
Spicynodes.org)

1 Screencasting
2 (Screenr.com,

+/-

1 Livestreaming (Qik.com, +
3 UStream.com)

1 Feeds Monitoring
4 (Reader.Google.com,

1 Wiki (Wikispaces.com,
5 MediaWiki.org,

va w
i

1 Digital storytelling
6 (Voicethread.com,

+/-

1 Learning design
7 (Cloudworks.ac.uk)

vi
p

ScreenJelly.com,
ScreenCastle.com)

Bloglines.com)

Wikia.com,
PBWorks.com)

Glogster.com,
Capzles.com,
Notaland.com,
Storybird.com,
Storify.com,
Photopeach.com,
Projeqt.com)

c Social Media for communication/collaboration/location-based

1 Groups

(Groups.Google.com,
Groups.Yahoo.com,
Ning.com, Meetup.com)

2 Forums/Spaces for

+/-

discussions(phpBB.net,
Quora.com, Disqus.com)

3 Location-based

+/-

(Foursquare.com,
Yelp.com, Zvents.com)

4 Augmented reality
(Layar.com,
Wikitude.com,
Zooburst.com)

5 Virtual worlds/Social
Games (Secondlife.com,
Playdom.com,
OpenSimulator.org)

6 IM (YM, GTalk, Jabber,

Skype)

Table 6.2. Social Media Platforms Comparison (b)

Legend: online interface w, e-mail e, SMS s, API a, Feed f, IM i;
multimedia content: video - v, audio - a, images - i, presentations - p, files - f;
the functionality is present +, is not present -

74

One can note that usually the platforms are specific about the content that could be posted or
shared (column 14). Also collaborative editing (24), access to common documents (6) or
public/private groups (4), all being features that are important in educational contexts, are supported
only by a few.

6.4. Requirements Specification

Private profile

Public profile/portfolio/stream

Direct/Private Messages

Resend (Retweet)

Feeds

Statistics

14

15

16

23

+
/gro
ups
+

24

25
Share/discuss Learning Design

22

Surveys

21

Collaborative editing

va wes we +
i p a f i s a f (future) (par
f
i
tial)

20

Need confirmation for follow

19

Import/ Export notes (resharing)

18

Users/Resources
Recommender
Mobile Interface

17

Location

Post Web/e-mail/SMS/
API/Feed/IM

Private posts

12 13

Access to group documents

11

(Nested) Comments

10

Groups (Private/Public)

Tagging

API

Cirip

Monitor Web/e-mail/SMS/
API/Feed/IM

Software License
(proprietary/OS)
Hosting
Cirip

Multimedia objects

Educational
Multimedia
Microblogging
Platform

Table 6.3. Requirements Specifications

Legend: online interface w, e-mail e, SMS s, API a, Feed f, IM i;
multimedia content: video - v, audio - a, images - i, presentations - p, files - f;
the functionality is present +, is not present The capabilities we sought for our educational microblogging platform are presented in
Table 6.3. The motivation for educational context are also given in Table 6.4, where the
requirements of the microblogging framework as an open social network are mapped onto the
features of the Open Learning Environment model defined in Chapter 3 (Table 3.5).

75

No.

Type

Table 6.4. Microblogging Platform characteristics mapped onto the features of an Open
Learning Environment

1.

Learners as
content cocreators

Pedagogical

2.

Open Learning
Environment
Features
Open
Educational
Resources

3.

Social

4.

5.

Collaborative/
distributed
assessment;
Learning
Analytics

Interactions
with external
learners and
experts

Collaborative
applications

Microblogging Platform Characteristics

14. Multimedia objects the possibility to post multimedia content:
video, audio, images, presentations, files, etc.; the platform is open to
different (educational) social networks, the (little) Open Educational
Resources hosted on these platforms become part of the Cirip flow;
Course content extended with Open Educational Resources / Open
Access materials / MOOCs proposed by teachers, learners and/or
automatically recommended.
6. Access to group documents support for group users to access
group (common) documents hosted in the cloud, on Google Drive
(extension for Dropbox to be implemented in future);
11. Resend (Retweet) possibility to resend a post of another user,
which will appear in the own stream, thus increasing the
visibility/importance of that specific note/resource;
24. Collaborative editing possibility to edit content collaboratively,
the content being hosted in the cloud (Google Drive);
21. Import/ Export notes (re-sharing) support for import/export
content from/to other applications: Twitter, other networks via
AddThis; importing notes on specific topics from Twitter, blogs, RSS
feeds, thus enlarging a user profile or a group content with real-time
information;
The content is not created solely by faculty members, but can be
collaboratively co-created by students enrolled in that course.
13. Statistics statistics and visualisations for users/groups activity,
basis for assessment and learning analytics;
23. Surveys support for creating surveys/polls to be answered online
or via SMS;
Peer and collaborative/distributed assessment have to be integrated,
together with issues related to copyright, ownership, security and
privacy; optimizing and understanding learning using data about
learners.
5. Comments support for comments organized chronologically;
7. Private posts posts visible only to owner (and to friends) can be
realized through private groups;
10. Direct/Private Messages to send public direct messages to other
user @username is specified; private direct messages can be
implemented through a private group with this purpose, opened by the
interested users;
The students' interactions with external learners and experts on
different Social Media platforms could bring new insights on content
and enlarge it, could validate the course content.
Note: the platforms connected with Cirip are selected based on a few
criteria and will be presented in Chapter 8;
76

and platforms

6.

7.

Technological

8.

9.

Public PLE

Timepersistency/
Retrieval

Teacher
training/
sharing
Learning
Design

Institutional/
administrative
management
features/
privacy
assurance

Students choose and use different distributed (free) collaborative

applications and platforms for their group/cooperative work, also for
communication with external participants and experts.
8. Private profile profile visible only to owner (and to friends) can
be realized through private groups;
9. Public profile/portfolio/stream support for building a public
profile with the activity on the platform; this way an ePortolio of the
user activity is created;
12. Feeds platform provides feeds for different streams (users,
groups), making possible the monitoring from specific RSS
aggregators;
15. Monitor Web/e-mail/SMS/API/Feed/IM a user can monitor
messages/content via the online interface/e-mail/SMS/API/Feed/IM;
new mashups/applications can be created based on the provided API;
16. Post Web/e-mail/SMS/API/Feed/IM - a user can monitor
messages/content via the online interface/e-mail/SMS/API/Feed/IM;
Students build public profiles/portfolios during courses, which can be
extended/used in future courses; also their previous/tacit knowledge
could be assessed for a better personalization of the course.
3. Tagging support for users and groups content classification and
retrieval using tags;
4. Groups (Private/Public) support for user groups is a very
important feature for online/enhanced courses or collaborative teams,
assuring the privacy, time-persistency, history/retrieval of all
communication/collaboration;
22. Need confirmation for follow in order to monitor other user
stream, his/her confirmation is not needed; only to join a specific
group if the facilitator of the group specifies this setting when creating
the group;
The environments should be time-persistent (Mott and Wiley, 2009):
an important aim would be to continue the collaboration between
participants (and facilitator) after the course end, to maintain access
at the course content and interaction, and to assure a continuity of the
learning community. Also the content and interaction should be
retrieved using different search terms.
25. Share/discuss Learning Design support for sharing/discussing
content (formalization) related to Learning Design/scenarios for
integrating new technologies.
Teachers should continuously learn/improve knowledge and skills in
communities of practice, validate and improve learning scenarios,
benefit of shadow mentoring from more experienced colleagues and
be able to visit/learn from the virtual spaces facilitated by other peers.
Note: how groups implement the features of LMS is presented in
Chapter 8;
A balance between imperatives of institutional networks and the
promise of the cloud to be achieved (Mott, 2010).
77

10.

11.

Mobile
Learning

Others

19. Mobile Interface application provides an interface for mobiles,

encouraging the mobile learning and collaboration;
Mobile learning is supported and encouraged: students can use
mobile devices for a better management of their work (inside and
outside educational institution).
1. Software License (proprietary/OS) application is proprietary;
2. Hosting application embeds the (multimedia) content, which is
hosted in the cloud: on different (educational) social networks and on
Google Drive, thus including (little) Open Educational Resources;
17. Location user location to be identified and posted is a possible
future extension;
18. Users/Resources Recommender support for similar users and/or
interesting resources recommendation implemented through searches,
visualizations;
20. API platform provides an Application Programming Interface
(API);

Cirip allows the creation of a personal/public profile and/or portfolio including ideas,
projects, research, information resources, multimedia objects created individually or collaboratively.
From this perspective and according to classifications of Stutzman (2009), Cross and
Conole (2009) and Engestrm (2009), Cirip is both a profile-centric and a social object-centric
network :
1.

the objects are part of the communication-conversation flow of the platform;

2.

the objects connect Cirip with other Social Media applications organized around
educational objects;

3.

objects can be reused, validated, created or recreated individually or collaboratively, thus

Cirip offering the openness to Open Educational Resources OERs;

4.

meta-objects meaning objects of learning design - LD can be created; the objects of

learning design specify learning scenarios, best practices for integrating new technologies
(Cirip in particular) in education; Compendium scenarios can be imported to reach the
experience of other communities of practice in LD;

5.

by extension, public or private groups can be considered as social objects, functioning as

sLMSs (social Learning Management Systems).

6.5. Conclusions
As part of the second phase of the DBR approach (Figure 2.3), the requirements for the
educational microblogging platform are presented in this chapter, starting from an evaluation of the
capabilities offered by a large typology of Social Media platforms, and from the conclusions drawn
from the previous studies related to Social Media, emerging educational technologies and
Microblogging. Arguments for educational contexts are also presented.
The requirements of the microblogging framework as an open social network are mapped
onto the features of the Open Learning Environment model defined in Chapter 3.
6.5.1. Contributions
In this chapter we have proposed an original model of Open Learning Environment based on
the microblogging technology; some results were published before in (Holotescu and Creu, 2013).
78

Chapter 7. Platform Architecture and Implementation

7.1. Introduction
This chapter presents the architecture and implementation of the Cirip educational
microblogging platform. Also its API, mashups and plugins are described here.

7.2. Technologies
The Cirip platform uses mainly open (source) technologies, which are presented in Figure
7.1. below. The platform is installed on an Apache server with PHP support, while the required
database server is MySQL.

Figure 7.1. Technologies

7.3. Architecture
The Cirip platform has a centralised architecture based on the Model-View-Controller
paradigm (Burbeck, 1992), having three layers concerned with behavior, activity, and data
representation (Figure 7.2). This architecture gives the potential for multiple interfaces to access
content. Also, the code structure is simplified by the separation of behavior from content modelling
(Bell, 2009). The Model layer persists across implementations, with the View layer changing
depending on the type of device (mobile, IM, etc).

79

Figure 7.2. MVC Architecture

The platform components are depicted in Figure 7.3:

52

Authentication Module: handles user authentication, integrating Twitter OAuth

Authentication; this means that a user can access the Cirip platform with the account created
on Cirip or with the account created on Twitter;
Status Sending Module: supports the posting of messages on user or group timeline; it
includes the Status Parser that will be described in subchapter 8.4.2;
Shorten Links Module: this module deals with short links which are aliases of long links
(URLS) and has three main functionalities:
for the RSS feeds monitored on the platform, each item of the original RSS is
reduced to maximum 140 characters and contains a shorten link to the original item;
the shorten link is created by the Shorten Links Module having a format like
http://www.cirip.ro/l/xxxxxx; the correspondence between the original link and item
name, and the random sequence xxxxxx is preserved in the table cirip_redirect;
when posting a message using the desktop interface, a link can be shorten using one
of the services: sp2.ro, p.ly, url.ie, is.gd, tinyurl.com;
when a shorten link in a message is displayed in the desktop interface, the original
link is also listed, being returned by a function of this module.
Search Module performs complex searches in the whole database for (not limiting the results
to the notes sent during the last 2 weeks as Twitter did for a few years, since 201352):
specific terms in messages:
sent by the user/group/feed of the current profile displayed in browser
all public messages
sent by the current user
sent by the followed users, groups or feeds;
users with characteristics (the results can be sorted alphabetically or based on the
number of messages sent by the users):
specified string in their username or description
from a particular location

https://blog.twitter.com/2013/now-showing-older-tweets-in-search-results

80

authored a specific type of microblog

specified gender
specified interface language (Romanian, English or German);
groups with characteristics:
specified string in groupname or description
having as moderator a specified user
specified visibility: public or private;
feeds with characteristics:
specified string in feedname or description;
Statistics/Visualisations Module:
creates hierarchy for the tags posted in public messages (Top tags is listed for each
Cirip page) and for tags contained by users/groups messages (listed on user/group
profile page at Specific Tags)
manages the Network and Tagcloud sections of users/groups/feeds, and provides the
Assessment tools which will be described in subchapter 8.6;
some of the statistics are created by cron jobs, the results being saved (cached) in
specific MySQL tables, this way the access time to database is reduced;
Mobile Gateway: assures the communication with mobile devices using the mobile interface
(m.cirip.ro), the SMS messages and the specific mobile applications/mashups.

A user can send/monitor messages/content via the online/mobile interface, email, SMS, API,
Feed, IM, and other plugins/mash-up applications.

81

Figure 7.3. Platform Components

The platform content consisting in messages can be enlarged using:
Twitter Stream API:
notes sent on Twitter can be imported in a user microblog if she/he selects the
twitter2cirip option in profile settings; this way the user profile gives a better image
of her/his online activities; we have to note here that the imported tweets are not
directly addressed to other twitterers (they don't contain @user), but they are general
messages for all the public;
Twitter notes containing specific terms can be imported in a group; the content of the
group on a specific topic is enlarged with Real-Time information provided by Twitter
on the same topic; the terms for twitter2group are specified by the group facilitator in
group settings (*);
RSS Feeds (to monitor RSS feeds, the Open Source Project Magpie RSS Parser53 is used):
users can monitor RSS feeds they specify, the same they follow other users or
groups; the RSS feeds can be provided by different sites/blogs or can be search feeds
on topics/terms the user is interested in (*);
items of RSS provided by the site/blog authored by a user can be imported in her/his
microblog if she/he selects the rss2cirip option in profile settings; again, this way the
user profile gives a better/enlarged image of her/his online activities;
items of RSS provided by the site/blog authored by a group facilitator or items of a
search feed can be imported in the group; again, the content of the group is enlarged
with Real-Time information on a specific topic provided by other sites/blogs; the
RSS is specified by the group facilitator in group settings at rss2group (*);
Social Media streams:
users can embed in messages different multimedia/Learning Design objects from a
large category of Social Media platforms; see subchapters 8.4 and 8.5 (*);
a FriendFeed widget on the user microblog shows her/his activity on other platforms,
if she/he selects the frienfeed option in profile settings(*);
livestreaming created with qik54 is displayed in a widget on the user microblog if
she/he selects this option in profile settings(*).

Also the platform content can be shared:

using the RC resending mechanism (part of Status Sending Module): any public message
has a RC option selecting it, the message will be resend by a user is her/his own timeline
with the prefix RC @user, where user is the owner of the original message; this mechanism
is a way to favorite/like/disseminate a message;
using Twitter Stream API: notes sent by a user on Cirip can be exported on Twitter, if she/he
selects the cirip2twitter option in the message form;
using RSS Feeds: Cirip provides RSS feeds for each user/group timeline, for the public
timeline, and also for the new users/groups/feeds created on the platform;
using Social Media streams: the public messages can be shared on other platforms using the
button + provided by the AddThis55 plugin (*).

The options marked above with (*) are specific to Cirip only and are not supported by other
microblogging platforms, a result of its architecture which is more complex than those of the
common microblogging platforms (Cho, 2009).
53 http://magpierss.sourceforge.net/
54 htttp://qik.com
55 http://www.addthis.com/

82

The code is organized in the following main directories:

/api functions provided by API
/ajax functions called from Ajax
/captcha scripts for registration captcha code
/chart library for charts displayed for groups statistics
/cirip classes
/cron scripts called by cron jobs
/grup templates for groups
/pro - templates for business groups
/rss scripts for RSS generation
/sondaje - polls
/utilizatori scripts for user/profile management.

The following scripts function as cron jobs, being hosted in the /cron folder and scheduled to
be executed periodically:
- cronrsssimplepie imports RSS items for the feeds in DB that have subscribers
- cronnotify send updates via SMS for users who monitor users/groups/feeds by SMS
- cronupdatemap recent public messages are published on the map section56 of the platform,
using Google Maps API
- crontwitter2cirip notes from Twitter account are imported for users who selected this
option in profile settings
- cronmail2cirip messages received at bot@cirip.ro are imported for users who sent them
from the account specified in profile settings
- cronrss2ciripgroupsimplepie - imports RSS items in groups
- crondeleterss old feeds items are deleted
- crontagshourly tags statistics for user/group messages are updated hourly
- cronnewsletter send newsletter to users who selected in profile settings to receive such
notifications
- crondeletecache delete cache
- crontwittersearch2cirip notes containing specific terms are imported in groups from twitter
- status_snd.php used for sending SMS.

7.4. Database
The MySQL database contains 36 tables (Figure 7.4) with relations depicted in Figure 7.5.

Figure 7.4. Database tables

56 http://www.cirip.ro/cirip/map

83

Figure 7.5. Relations between tables

7.5. API
As architectural style the Cirip Application Programming Interface (API) uses
Representational State Transfer (REST) (Fielding, 2000). REST is used the most often by the online
services: one of the biggest directories for Web 2.0 APIs (ProgrammableWeb, 2013) contains
around 8800 APIs, whereof 63% (5600) use REST and 21% (1900) use Simple Object Access
Protocol (SOAP) (Pearson eCollege, 2012).
Cirip API has a rate limiting assuring 60 GET-based requests per hour per access token, this
way preventing the server overload.
The following functions are provided by the Cirip API57:
public_timeline the most recent public messages
URL:http://www.cirip.ro/statuses/public_timeline.format
Format: xml, json;
user_timeline the most recent messages sent by the selected user
URL:http://www.cirip.ro/statuses/user_timeline/user.format
Format: xml, json
Parameter: user- user id or username;
show returns a message
URL:http://www.cirip.ro/statuses/show/id.format
Format: xml, json
Parameter: id status id;
57 http://www.cirip.ro/cirip/api

84

update add a new message (requires authentication)

URL:http://www.cirip.ro/statuses/update.format
Format: xml, json
Parameter: status the new message (max 140 characters);
replies the last replies for the authenticated user
URL:http://www.cirip.ro/statuses/replies.format
Format: xml, json;
followers followers of the selected user
URL:http://www.cirip.ro/followers/user.format
Format: xml, json
Parameter: user- username
friends users followed by the selected user
URL:http://www.cirip.ro/friends/user.format
Format: xml, json
Parameter: user - username
api_version currect API version
URL:http://www.cirip.ro/statuses/api_version.xml
Format: xml, json;
friends_timeline recent mesaages sent by friends
URL:http://www.cirip.ro/statuses/friends_timeline.format
Format: xml, json;
group_show information about the selected group
URL:http://www.cirip.ro/statuses/group_show.format
Format: xml, json
Parameter: user group name;
groups_show - information about the groups in a geographic area
URL:http://www.cirip.ro/statuses/groups_show.format
Format: xml, json
Parameters: latitude, longitude, radius;
group_timeline recent messages in a selected group
URL:http://www.cirip.ro/statuses/group_timeline.format
Format: xml, json
Parameter: user group name.
As an example, in Figure 7.6. a message and the corresponding JSON (JavaScript Object
Notation) format returned by the show API function are presented (the JSON format is displayed
using a JSON Parser at http://json.parser.online.fr/).

85

Figure 7.6. Message at cirip.ro/status/27551230 and the corresponding JSON format,

cirip.ro/statuses/show/27551230.json

7.6. Plugins and Mashups

Cirip provides numerous posibilities for sending/monitoring messages on the platform:
native scripts/plugins: online, SMS, mobile interface (http://m.cirip.ro), CiripFox Firefox
extension, import/export Twitter notes, import/export RSS, e-mail, widget published on
blogs/sites, YM/GTalk/Jabber messenger clients, export notes in a file, real-time wall,
Post2Cirip bookmarklet;
3rd party mashups based on API: Firefox Ubiquity command, CiripChrome extension,
CiripGadget (Google gadget), WP2Cirip (Wordpress plugin), AddThis social plugin,
CiripAir standalone application, CiripME mobile application, CiripGroup Augmented
Reality Layar application, Compendium2CiripLD aplication for converting Compendium
scenarios in Learning Design Cirip objects.

86

Figure 7.7. Plugings and mash-ups as a mindmap. Note at http://www.cirip.ro/status/3113278

7.7. Platform development phases

Under our coordination, the Cirip platform has been built using the Design Based Research
(DBR) methodology approach (Figure 2.3). The platform initial and iterative designs are mainly our
work, while most of the implementation is being done by Cristian Armeana, Software Engineer at
Timsoft. Cristian Regep implemented the Firefox plug-in and also part of visualisations. We have
implemented components such as those for: multimedia objects embedding, user and group layout,
statistics/learning analytics and timeline, cron jobs, user and group real-time wall, etc.
The Cirip development started in January 2008, and has had a few versions/deployments,
presented in the table below. In adding new features the continuous evaluation and feedback given
by the community nurtured on the platform was very important (in January 2015 there are more
than 125,000 users), the facilitation of the community being realized by ourself (@cami13), by
@cirip (Cirip team account), @Gabriela (Gabriela Grosseck, a close collaborator) and by the group
moderators.

87

Version Date

Features

Main related events/articles

March 17,
2008

Send/monitor posts,
categories for
microblogs, feeds
monitoring, widget
for blogs

- Blog posts58

April 2008

Public/private
groups, search,
send/monitor posts
via IM/SMS,
statistics,
visualisations

- Blog posts59
- The educational features of Cirip were presented in article
"Can we use Twitter for educational activities (Grosseck and
Holotescu, 2008), being compared with those of Twitter. The
article is considered one of the most important in Microblogging
in Education area, having now more than 240 citations60 and
being one of the references for Twitter Wikipedia entry61.

January 2009

Multimedia objects
embedding, polls,
tags, mobile learning
features, groups for
(educational) online
marketing, API

- Cirip was presented at the First European Microblogging

Conference in Hamburg62
- Cirip appeared on Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009 (position
67)63
- Excellence prize at CNIV 2009, Iasi, for the article Cirip.eu:
Building Learning Communities on Microblogging Platforms
(Holotescu and Grosseck, 2009a)64

2010

Learning design
scenarios

- Cirip was Finalist at Seedcamp Zagreb, January 2010 65

2012

New mash-ups

- Cirip was nominated by UNESCO Romania for "UNESCO

King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of ICTs in
Education" - April, 201266

2013

Augmented reality
features
consolidation, design
features for running
MOOCs

- the team having as members Prof.Dr.Ing.Vladimir Creu,

Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck and Cristian Armeana
was nominated for the "Innovative Education Award", WCES
2013, Rome, 5-8 Febr, for the research related to Cirip.eu and
Microblogging in education67

2014 onward

Future developments - presented in the final chapter.

Table 7.6. Cirip development phases

7.8. Conclusions
The chapter presents the centralized architecture of the educational platform, developed in
an iterative cycle (part of the second DBR phase Figure 2.3), based on the continuous monitoring
of Social Media / emerging technologies / educational trends and on the feedback of users.
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67

http://www.cirip.ro/blog/?m=200803
http://www.cirip.ro/blog/?m=200804
http://tinyurl.com/citations08
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter
http://www.cirip.ro/grup/mbc09
http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/top-100-tools-2007-2012/
http://www.edumanager.ro/articol.php?id=5524
http://www.cirip.ro/grup/seedcamp
http://www.cirip.ro/status/17643413
http://wces.info

88

Chapter 8. Platform as an Open Learning Environment

8.1. Introduction
During the last years, as many articles and studies have indicated, Web2.0 technologies have
been used to support innovative approaches in higher education (Conole and Alevizou, 2010;
Hamid, Chang and Kurnia, 2011). Blogs, microblogs, social networks, media sharing sites, social
bookmarking, wikis, social aggregation, and virtual worlds are used increasingly by students and
teachers for communication and collaboration, for sharing resources or for building personal
learning environments. As the classic learning management systems (LMS) are considered too
inflexible, there are many projects/implementations of integrated platforms, in which the social
functionality becomes available inside the LMS, thus speaking about LMS2.0, social LMS, Open
Learning Environments or Social Learning Environments (Crosslin, 2010; Dahrendorf, 2010; Mott,
2010; JISC, 2011).
The approach for Cirip was from the perspective of integrating the facilities of a LMS within
the social network, thus the microblogging platform becoming a social LMS.
This chapter presents the Cirip features as a Mobile Social Learning Management System
(msLMS): Learning Management and Mobile Learning features, how Social Objects are integrated
as (small) Open Educational Resources in the platform flowstream, how Learning Scenarios can be
specified as Learning Design Objects, and also the facilities implemented for student Assessment.
Each group of Cirip acts as a msLMS, having a has a specific groupname which appears in its URL
(http://www.cirip.ro/group/groupname). Also, the groupname is used to post a message in that
group (syntax is @groupname for messages sent from the browser interface or just groupname in a
text message). The group virtual space preserves the whole materials/interactions of the group
members.
Its virtual space represents a simple, efficient, adaptable and scalable solution for:
course in a university/college;
company training;
community of practice;
team collaboration and management;
space for mentoring/coaching;
service related to an application/product;
event: workshop, conference, etc.

8.2. Learning Management Features

Almost all universities use LMS Learning Management Systems (VLE - Virtual Learning
Environments ) for their online/blended courses. A LMS provides the following features (Holotescu,
2004):
secured and controlled access to the environment each user has his/her own account; the
environment is accessed from a web browser; users have special rights concerning the use,
the management of the environment; their activity and portfolio are usually visible; some
environments have the possibility of automatic evaluation of the competences and learning
needs;
course content access/management learning modules in various formats (HTML, audio,
video), templates for developing new materials, for planning activities, for notifications,
89

search possibilities, access to resources, online libraries;

communication with the facilitator and between participants through asynchronous
conferences ( discussions forums ), chat, e-mail; some environments have the facility of
sending private messages;
evaluation of the participants assigning homework, creating and managing questionnaires;
offers the possibility of working in groups, with private communication zones;
management generation of accounts, course component management.

The LMS are considered too inflexible, the main drawbacks being:
they are walled gardens: the materials and students portfolios are accessible only by the
LMS users,
the learning community doesn't include external experts and learners and is nurtured only
during the course duration and
the emerging Social Media tools are not used.
These disadvantages are eliminated in Cirip, which has the characteristics of a Social
Learning Management System, depicted in this subchapter.
8.2.1. Cirip as a course environment (Social LMS)
Each course on the Cirip.eu microblogging platform is run in a blended manner, in a private
group which requires the approval of the group moderator (discipline coordinator). Such a group is
structured in observance of the general elements of a LMS (Figure 8.2.1):
Public presentation part The Description area.
Participants Portfolios. A personalized microblog provides the opportunity to set up a
public profile/portfolio of a student with photo/avatar, name, a description, the link to the authored
blog, background, the type of the microblog; then to build up a network of other colleagues or other
users / other public groups, livestreaming etc. Students can export their micro-posts as a widget on
personal blogs or on other sites. They can monitor sites, blogs, or activities on other social networks
through RSS feeds or search feeds (using the platform specific feature). They can also
import/export notes from/to Twitter.
A microblog can be seen as a Personal Learning Environment where the student can keep up
to date with university life stuff, find resources to use and learn from, discuss with peers (but also
with specialists, other teachers, other Cirip users) their topics of interests/hobbies, have fun (play
week-end games or join all kind of other informal activities from public groups). Also the student
can participate in a number of courses, the portfolio being enlarged at each participation. Also the
learning community nurtured during a course will continue to collaborate after the course end.
A notice board for up-to-date course information Groups have an Announcements section
where moderators can post notes, basic teaching materials, additional resources in a variety of
formats (LOM/SCORM or multimedia) and links to other resources for the course activities.
Administrative section: teachers can add/remove students, post announcements/materials
Announcements section, send notifications to participants by email or SMS, create and conduct
polls and quizzes (which can be answered online or by SMS), access internal/external search
possibilities; assess students participation and the cohesion of the learning community using
statistics and visualisations in the Network and Tagcloud sections.

90

Student-teacher communication area: this is the central part of the course, consisting of the
interaction between students and teachers, and also between students.

Figure 8.2.1. A group hosting a blended course

Messages can be sent and received via the web, mobile version (m.cirip.ro), through SMS,
instant messaging clients (Yahoo, Jabber), e-mail, Firefox/Chrome extensions, API, desktop and
other 3rd party applications; notes can also be imported from Twitter and RSS feeds.
A user can embed multimedia objects in the notes, such as images (flickr, picasa albums), video
clips (youtube, vimeo, dotsub), audio (deezer, blip.fm, vocaroo) and (live)video files, live-streaming
(qik), presentations (slideshare, voicethread, prezi, photopeach glogster etc.), cognitive
visualizations like diagrams or mindmaps (mindmeister, mindomo, spicynodes, diagrammr), files
(scribd, Google documents, any online file); students become active participants in the process of
sharing, organizing and generating content, which can be seen as little OERs (Weller, 2010). A
similar notion we have defined in 2005, when analyzing how blogs could be used in education, we
noted that blog posts can be considered as a kind of Learning Objects or Open Educational
Resources, which could be used to enhance online or blended courses (Holotescu, 2005). The same,
OERs could be considered the collaborative collections of resources created on the bookmarking
system delicious.com, collections of RSS feeds on a specific topic (grouped as OPML) or annotated
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and descripted images on flickr.com, all used in the courses we have facilitated (Holotescu, 2004).
In order to classify the messages posted in the group, specific tags are used for the course
activities. Students can participate at the course using desktop computers or mobile devices, which
allow an interactive participation even outside the classroom walls (Livingston, 2010), being
capable to send and receive notes from the platform by using a mobile navigator (m.cirip.ro) or via
SMS.
The content course can be enlarged with Real-Time information on course topic: messages
imported from Twitter containing specific terms and RSS items of a blog/site (usually authored by
facilitator) or of a search feed.

8.3. Mobile Learning Features

This type of learning can be though used successfully by associating instant messaging with
the SMS and the characteristics of social networking applications, which developed rapidly into
microblogging applications. Whatever platform we use (Twitter, Plurk, Edmodo, Jaiku, Identi.ca,
FriendFeed, Cirip and to some extent Tumblr, Posterous or Facebook), were witnessing a new
paradigm blooming / expanding in the hands of our students (Feijo et al., 2009), the generation
that has not known life without mobile phone (CDE, 2008).
While in recent studies ( Herrington et al., 2009) it appears that few academic institutions in
the world have adopted widespread m-learning technologies, there is evidence that m3-learning mobile multimedia microblogging learning - happens, becoming a reality in university settings
(Ebner, 2009), providing a fast, mobile and more flexible possibility of comunication, information
management and networking (Lundin, 2010) between teachers, students and faculty staff, both for
teaching and learning, in 140 characters or less (Blake et al., 2010).

Figure 8.3.1. Mobile Learning features as a LD object, source

http://www.cirip.ro/status/25893812?lg=en

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In this context, our work aims at integrating microblogging in higher education by

valorizing the mobility parameters of the Cirip.eu platform for the purpose of increasing knowledge
and learning in authentic environments. Thus, the purpose of this section is not only to provide a
general overview / a framework for using microblogging through mobile technologies, but also a
way to enhance teaching and learning in formal university courses. We focus here on the following
two questions:
What are the mobile technology affordances for teaching/learning with this platform in HE?
What are the pedagogical uses of m3-learning on the Cirip microblogging platform?.
8.3.1. M3-learning features
The Cirip specific features for m3-learning are presented in the following framework (Table
8.3.1), which extends the Patten, Sanchez and Tangney classification (Patten et al., 2006). Most of
the characteristics are unique to Cirip and cannot be found on other educational microblogging
platforms (Holotescu and Creu, 2013). We should also note that the features are assured by a single
platform - Cirip, while in the (Patten et al., 2006) work, mobile applications that offer just one
feature category are listed.
Different scenarios for developing/running/facilitating learning inside the mobile groups can
be specified as Learning Design objects in the dedicated group of the platform
(http://www.cirip.ro/grup/lds). This way, scenarios can be shared, validated, improved and reused.
Figure 8.3.1 presents the mobile group features as a Learning Design object; the characteristics
unique to Cirip are marked.
The administration panel of a group contains a dashboard for SMS management, these
features also being unique to Cirip as well, no other educational microblogging platform offering
such a support. Figure 8.2.2. illustrates the dashboard section for creating dynamic commands,
meaning that when an SMS containing a specific command (keyword) is sent to a group, the
platform will automatically reply with the answer prepared by the group administrator.

Figure 8.3.2. Dashboard section for creating a dynamic command

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Category
Administration

Reference

Interaction

Cirip specific mobile features

the moderator/facilitator creates the group, setting its properties:
private/public (for a private group, its sections are visible only for
members; in the case of a public group, its messages are visible for
anyone, but only members can send new messages), open/close
(anyone can join an open group, while the facilitator approves each
new membership for a close group);
a moderator can dynamically create group accounts for the users
specified in a spreadsheet file;
moreover, he or she can define sublists of the group members by
using specific tags;
a person can join a group via a (mobile) browser, the mobile version
m.Cirip.eu or by SMS; mobile number or cirip/twitter username can
be issued for authentication;
for private groups that host trainings/events for companies, one can
become a member by sending an SMS for micro-payment;
password recover can be realized online or via SMS;
by using a (mobile) browser, students can access course
materials/resources/announcements published in the group space;
they can also access multimedia resources embedded in messages;
specific terms/tags can be searched in the group messages;
students share and ask opinions from peers or other users by using a
(mobile) browser or via SMS;
messages are classified using specific tags;
students can follow users, groups and feeds via free SMS; they can
specify the time interval for SMS delivering; also when these alerts
should be stopped or restarted, by texting cirip on/off;
during the f2f courses and activities, if teachers agree, students can
send SMS including questions, comments in groups, for future
reflections; also their observations during activities outside
universities;
send feedback / comments / questions via SMS to dedicated groups,
during workshops or conferences;
participate via SMS in polls and quizzes operated during courses or
events;
after sending an SMS with the groupname and a keyword, learners
receive a response via SMS containing:
courses/exams/events/f2f mentoring schedules
grades;
during a live event the messages posted in a group can be monitored
by using the group real-time wall;
the notes of a public group can be exported or listed in a widget on a
site/blog; this is an important feature for a course/event
promotion/dissemination;
members can interact by using private messages;

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Multimedia
Collaboration

MetaCollaboration

Location-based

Facilitation

Monitoring

Assessment

facilitators and participants create collaborative multimedia objects

embedded in the group messages; such objects (images, audio/video
clips, presentations, files, mindmaps) can be created/shared on
different social media platforms and can be considered little Open
Educational Resources (Weller, 2010);
comment videos by sending SMS in courses/teams groups; messages
are exported as an .srt file and used to subtitle the video;
send images, (live) video / audio clips during events, activities;
by communicating with members and groups, in a continuous
evaluation process, integrating (search) feeds and collaborative
activities/resources from other social networks, members can build
and manage mobile Personal Learning Environments;
scenarios for teaching and learning represented as mindmaps are
discussed/improved by using a mobile browser, in a group dedicated
to learning designs (Figure 8.3.1);
by using a Cirip mash-up implemented on the augmented reality
browser Layar, one can geo-locate, find information and join
different groups; the mash-up is important especially for finding
groups for workshops, events, trainings, being a valuable facility for
educational marketing;
the course core materials, additional resources and announcements
are published by moderators in the Materials section of the groups;
group moderators can send alerts via e-mail/SMS to groups
members, announcing news or updates with a high priority;
alerts via SMS can be sent to specific subgroups/teams, being an
important feature for groupwork facilitation;
by following users, groups and feeds via SMS, teachers / trainers
receive updates related to courses in real-time; they can thus
participate in discussions, give feedback via SMS, being active even
when they don't have access to internet;
group moderators can create dynamic commands/responses for
administrative aspects asked by members via SMS (see
Administration), by connecting keywords with specific actions
(Figure 8.3.2);
the number of messages sent in a group via a mobile browser or by
SMS are visible for the group moderator, as well as their distribution
in time;
other statistics for group activity are accessible for the facilitator:
the most frequent words, user names and tags, showing the
topics discussed and also the most active/referenced users;
the types and number of multimedia objects embedded in the
group messages, also the applications/plugins used to send them;
for each member of the facilitated group, the administrator can
assess his/her ePortfolio/PLE/activity, having access to statistics
such as:
number of messages,
tags,
types of multimedia objects included (showing the activity on
different SM platforms and his/her connections with OERs),
Table 8.3.1. m3-learning framework
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Figure 8.3.3. Dashboard for a mobile group

In Table 8.3.2 some examples of dynamic commands are specified for different educational
contexts: course, training or mentoring group (a mentoring group could be one that connects a
teacher with the students supervised for dissertation/master thesis), and event / conference /
workshop.
Table 8.3.2. Text messages and specific actions
Context
General

SMS

Action

cirip ?

groupname ?

groupname on/off
Course / training / mentoring
course schedule

the platform will automatically respond with an SMS

containing the list of the most important active groups
that host courses or events
the platform will automatically respond with an SMS
containing a short description of the group and its
commands
user joins/leaves the specified group
the platform will automatically respond with an SMS
containing
the
schedule
of
f2f
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course grades

course question/
comment

course number

course srt comment

project
specifications

Event / conference
event session

event speaker rate

event speaker
question

event quiz

classes/laboratories/mentoring sessions
the grades of the student are sent by SMS as an automatic
reply
the question/comment will be registered in the group
space, so that the teacher/colleagues are able to
reply/comment online or via SMS; it is recommended (at
least) for the teacher to monitor the group via SMS, this
way responses/feedback would be prompt
students reply by SMS to a poll conducted by
teacher/colleagues
collaborative exercise for commenting a movie while
watching it
using the dashboard, teacher creates sublists for the
groups of students; for each sublist he/she sends via SMS
specifications/additional resources useful for the project
the students in that sublist have to develop
collaboratively
user subscribes to take part in a specific session; platform
sends an SMS for confirmation
during the event/conference participants are able to rate
by SMS the lecture delivered by a speaker
questions could be addressed to speakers, they will be
registered in the event group; the answers/debates could
be sent/take place during and after the event, implying
distance participants too
a quiz specific to the event is launched

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8.3.2. Pedagogical uses of m3-learning on Cirip

Over the last seven years we have run different courses with students enrolled in several
years and forms of study, covering a variety of profiles and specializations, from three universities:
University Politehnica Timisoara, University Ion Slavici, Timisoara and University Vasile
Goldis, Arad. The courses were hosted in private, blended-mannered groups on the platform.
In order to gather the students feedback for identifying a number of aspects regarding the
use of microblogging in their mobile learning experience, we asked master students to engage in the
following activities:
create a mobile digital narrative using a social media application at their own choice;
collect digital media (pictures / videos / audio) and post them on the platform;
create a digital story collaboratively;
livestreaming from different events (academic, scientific, theatre festivals, concerts etc.).

Figure 8.3.4. Quiz for participants at the end of a course - http://www.cirip.ro/sondaj/7

After the course evaluation, students were asked to answer some questions in a survey posted on
the platform regarding the benefits and disadvantages noticed during this experiment.

Advantages

Table 8.3.3. A preliminary feedback from the students

Accessibility: access to information is available anywhere (irrespective
of location), where there are no schools, teachers, or libraries.
Flexibility:
for the learning services market for persons who dont have access to
the computational infrastructure (accessibility to the internet and elearning is not widely spread in rural or distant areas);

Limitations

the learning services market for persons whose jobs require permanent
move or students who need individualized education.

Audience (mobility): reaches all students, anytime.

Monitoring mechanisms and personal messages received entirely.
Long-lasting interaction for multiple purposes.
Except for SMS following, most of the mobile functions on Cirip are
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still underexploited by the community members.

Content development for all types of mobile terminals can be difficult.
Risks
Technology might not function for the aimed purpose or might nor
respond to the learning needs.
Encouraging incorrect SMS-like writing.
Students might need additional training actions in order to use
efficiently the microblogging technology with the help of mobile
devices.
Defining a mobile pedagogy for the Cirip.eu microblogging platform led us to emphasize
those characteristics that place the m3 aspects of Cirip within informal, rather than formal learning.
Thus, some of these attributes, that altered the educational practices during the formal courses
facilitated on Cirip by using mobile technologies, are:
o Communication with members and tutors took place in a notational form, by using text
messages. Capture, storage and research of information in multimedia format was also a
process resulting from the convergence of Cirip microblogging facilities, students
learning skills and their social interaction (Traxler, 2009).
o Learning was personalized. It facilitated those individual and collaborative learning
experiences, which allowed students the freedom to choose those social media
applications they used during their courses.
o Collaboration through SMS messages led to connected classroom learning. Thus,
following certain users / groups supported collaborative learning even outside the
course.
o Creating extended opportunities for direct learning. For example, supporting
alphabetization for less digital competent students, but also learning of foreign
languages, English and Spanish particularly, following the integration within courses of
the informational flux of the Conference on personal learning environments in
Barcelona, in July 2010, http://pleconference.citilab.eu.
o Psychological Comfort / A good motivation. Mobile multimedia resources may make
learning funny (individual lack of motivation should be however avoided because, in
this case, students might feel discouraged especially if they dont have access to
advanced mobile devices).
o It allowed for learning methods based on social media (Flickr, YouTube/Vimeo,
SpicyNodes, Voicethread, Prezi, Vocaroo, Google Docs etc.) and peer-to-peer support
(meaningful content to help / create innovation).
o Development of mportfolios for acquiring knowledge and skills (mobile abilities),
necessary for acceding on a mobility-dominated job market.

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8.4. Social Objects as (little) Open Educational Resources

8.4.1. Social and Multimedia Objects
Jyri Engestrm68 (2005), co-developer of the Jaiku69 microblogging platform (acquired by
Google in 2007) and then responsible for Google mobile applications, has launched a theory stating
that, in most cases, people base their relations on certain objects, which he named social objects.
These can be physical, such as location, and semi-physical (such as attention) or even
conceptual, such as on-line presence. According to Engestrm, objects become the center of any
social relation and the nucleus/fundamental notions of a strong social network, for which he defends
the approach called "object centered sociality". "The social networking services that really work are
the ones that are built around objects".
In such a network built around social objects, people will connect to objects, objects to
people, objects to objects, and people to people (becoming friends through a social object) (Betta,
2007).
An important feature for Cirip is allowing the creation of a personal profile and/or portfolio
including ideas, projects, research, information resources, multimedia objects created individually
or collaboratively. Thus on Cirip each member to be able to build not only a Personal Learning
Environment but also a Personal Learning Network.
From this perspective and according to classifications of Stutzman (2009), Cross and Conole
(2009) and Engestrm (2009), Cirip is both a profile-centric network, and a social object-centric
network :
1.

the objects are part of the communication-conversation flow of the platform;

2.

the objects connect Cirip with other Social Media applications organized around
educational objects;

3.

objects can be reused, validated, created or recreated individually or collaboratively, thus

Cirip offering an opening to Open Educational Resources OERs;

4.

meta-objects meaning objects of learning design - LD can be created; the objects of

learning design specify learning scenarios, best practices for integrating new technologies
(Cirip in particular) in education; Compendium scenarios can be imported to reach the
experience of other communities of practice in LD;

5.

by extension, public or private groups can be considered as social objects, functioning as

sLMSs (social Learning Management Systems).

In this section we aim first at analysing the multimedia features that distinguish Cirip.eu
from other microblogging platforms. The multimedia objects represent a type of Social Objects
included on the platform. The Decalogue below reveals the most important reasons for embedding
multimedia objects in notes:
1. Objects become a part of the informational/conversational flux (the presence of a link in a
message would mean only a resource to visit optionally).
2. By learning about their use and actually using them, users improve/acquire both new
technical skills and better communication abilities (especially in genuine situations).
3. By accessing the social networks from which the objects are included, users learn to search
68 Jyri Engestrm's profile at CrunchBase http://www.crunchbase.com/person/jyri-engestrom
69 Jaiku (this name because the posts on Jaiku resemble Japanese haiku), purchased by Google in 2007, was shut down
in January 2012; Jaiku had 15000 users; Google published Jaiku code at https://code.google.com/p/jaikuengine/.

100

for/validate educational/business resources. In time, these networks are included in ones

personal learning environment/network PLE/PLN and many users create their own
resources or collaborate in order to create new resources on these networks.
4. They facilitate the development of courses/trainings.
5. Users participate actively to the learning process by gaining information in multiple ways.
6. They stimulate the understanding and interpretation capacity.
7. They become a part of each users portfolio.
8. They represent an openness to OER movement, each object can be considered a little OER
(Weller, 2010).
9. They satisfy an increased information and culture consumption (by enlarging the Web 2.0
specialized culture horizon).
10. People participate also affectively through digital storytelling instruments to knowledge /
learning / socialising experiences etc.
Objects included in messages were selected by the Cirip.eu implementation team following the
results of our experience of using the Web2.0 educational applications. The list is permanently
completed with the newly-appeared types of resources, which assist the didactic and educational
process. A useful feedback related to these facilities as well is coming from platform users.
8.4.2. Types of multimedia objects
The multimedia objects which can be embedded in messages are:
images: flickr, tinypic, any image by URL can illustrate a concept, state, event; they can
be diagrams, graphics, personal photos;
audio: eok, trilulilu, deezer, blip.fm, mp3 file, vocaroo (live audio) audio recordings offer
a touch of realism to practical exercises, they replace (and/or complete) the absence of
verbal explanations, they also represent a student-student or group communication channel,
accessible and easy to use; besides personal communications, the videos included can be
recordings from events/communications;
video: youtube, dotsub, seesmic, vimeo, myvideo.ro, 220.ro offer visual dynamics and
relevance to the learning unit (or the real world), grab attention, intensify the students
imagination; for example, at dotsub collaborative translations can be done, either directly on
the site, or using a collaborative document;
live video may clarify concepts which cannot be discovered only by text; useful for
personalized communication, interviews, recordings/interventions for various events;
livestreaming the broadcast of a course, theatre play, event, concert, interview etc.;
presentations: slideshare, voicethread, capzles, picasa, photopeach, notaland, authorstream,
glogster, prezi, screencastle, screenjelly, screenr useful in digital storytelling, a high degree
of liberty in exercising creativity and/or imagination; each can constitute a micro-lecture;
they can be created individually or collaboratively;
mindmaps - mindmeister, diagrammr, mindomo, spicynodes for concept classifications
and clarifications;
files: pdf, doc, xls, ppt, txt, rtf, odf for example, learning resources can be available (for
downloading too) to students in classical format as well; thus, students are also able to
prepare case studies, essays in these formats;
hyperlinks ensure the transfer to other media fragments (the button Shorten helps to
introduce a long link);
polls and quizzes the utility of polls is multiple:
they can have a personal character or aim at social, cultural, economic,
educational, political aspects;
students can initiate polls, their way of thinking can be found out, feedback,
testing;
101

they can be active for a long period;

they can be created in real-time at a f2f course, conference, event, workshop
participants or those watching from a distance will be able to vote online or
through SMS, the results being projected in real-time;
at courses/trainings theres the possibility of answering through SMS to
questions with multiple choices courses/trainings will have an associated group
for development in blended approach;
within the groups, the moderator or any other member can create polls in order to
find out the opinions or decide on a certain variant;
For all of the embedded objects it is important to respect the license and to mention the
source.
In order to embed an object in a message a specific syntax is required: object URL or
network:value. When a message containing such a syntax has to be displayed on timeline, the Status
Parser contained in Status Sending Module (Figure 7.3) will replace it with the embed code for that
particular object. This solution requires a continuous monitoring of the social networks for updating
the embed codes. We started to evaluate other variants, such as: Facebook Open Graph protocol
http://ogp.me/ and http://embed.ly.
8.4.3. Multimedia objects for digital storytelling
From a pedagogical point of view, it is considered that the extremely generous range of
online tools for creating digital stories offers countless possibilities of expressing creativity.
Moreover, this technique can be applied to almost any discipline / topic.

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Figure 8.4.1. Multimedia objects included in messages mindmap at cirip.ro/status/3109554

103

The choice of storytelling tools was determined firstly by the fact that everyone has a story
to tell and through a multimedia-flavoured content attention is drawn on spectacular storytelling.
Secondly, photopeach, notaland, capzles and the more recent glogster or prezi are tools that
correspond to the actual educational needs, being easy to use, requiring minimum technical
knowledge. Thirdly, another fact that matters is the way in which these applications address
different learning styles of pupils/students and the fact that they allow for collaboration and sharing
(annotation and comments included) and not only individual study. Last but not least, through the
emotional connections with the content one may succeed in developing really sophisticated
multimedia digital stories, both from the point of view of realisation70 and of the affective sense /
signification of the digitally incorporated content of ideas.
In addition, teachers/ tutors learn how to integrate efficiently Web 2.0 resources in the
educational process while pupils / students actually learn how to use technology in a funny, relaxing
way and the fact that they know they can use (almost) any digital storytelling tool (for example
animoto through youtube export, or autorstream, or animation through screencastle) for personal
experimenting contributes to professional development, and respectively to enhance self-esteem.
8.4.4. Advantages and limits of using multimedia objects in teaching-learning
The benefits of integrating multimedia objects on cirip.eu (used especially for courses
running on the platform) are:
incorporate audio fluxes (for example vocaroo) and video fluxes (seesmic), even in real-time
(livestreaming);
present a high degree of interactivity, thus allowing both students and instructors to send and
receive multimedia materials;
offer consistency, visual expressiveness and personality to the created microblogs
(increasing the degree of user participation to the activities occurring on the platform,
according to personal preferences);
are student-focused see the micro-lectures-explanations realised with ScreenJelly, Screenr
or ScreenCastle;
drive the access to a qualitative educational digital content (see the Announcements in the
group, for example);
are useful also for persons with visual or hearing deficiencies.
The use of the cirip.eu platform implies (sometimes even requires) a prior instruction of the
students for using the platform and the implementation of multimedia technologies/objects, in order
to obtain a real efficiency of the educational act. Some of them end up making an objective out of
learning how to use the platform and not the suggested learning units.

8.5. Learning Design Objects and Scenarios

8.5.1. Learning design objects in microblogging context: a group for sharing educational
strategies
Learning design aims to enable reflection, refinement, change and communication by
focusing on forms of representation, notation and documentation, also to support teachers in making
pedagogically informed, better use of technologies. The scope of learning design is to improve the
quality of the learning experience, learning outcomes and learner support (Cross and Conole, 2009).

70 They favour also the acquirement of new skills, not only technical but also of research, communication,
collaboration, sharing etc.

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As Ebner et al. (2010) noted, there has been increasing research done on the use of
microblogging in learning scenarios. Therefore, in 2010 we have opened a group of learning
design71 (LD) to share best practices. LD group members can be teachers, practitioners in
education, trainers, students, but also other persons interested to maximize the benefits of using
social media for career development or business.
The aims of the group are:
to support innovative strategies in order to engage and empower teachers and learners and
make learning more accessible and participative;
to inform about the learning design domain and its importance for the educational process;
to encourage the sharing of effective pedagogies experiences and the integration of new
technologies (in particular Cirip.eu) in education;
to create, discuss, analyze, evaluate, improve, adapt, and reuse such best practices
represented as learning designs;
to get learners feedback, empowering them as creative participants in the design of
learning;
the scenarios refer to formal, non-formal and informal education, to educational events, to
social learning in general.
The discussions and exchange of experiences in the group dedicated to learning design both
assess the value of technology-enhanced learning and bring new resources and information in the
field.
The Announcement section of the group presents the Learning Design field, together with
notable projects: variants of EML - Educational Modeling Language developed by the Valkenburg
Group, IMS-LD standard, JISC Design for Learning Program, modeling tools such as LAMS,
Reload, CopperCore, CompendiumLD, etc. If other communities of practice related to LD are
hosted by dedicated platforms, the LD group on Cirip.eu is integrated on the platform where these
scenarios are used effectively, so they can be validated and improved. Thus, the possibility to
communicate and collaborate around the LD meta-objects makes Cirip similar to Cloudworks, but
Cloudworks is a network focussed strictly on LD.
We have chosen mindmaps and diagrams, with the corresponding Web 2.0 applications
Mindmeister, Mindomo, Spicynodes and Diagrammr as solution for nonformal representations of
learning design. These are accessible to non-technical users, can be collaboratively edited and can
be embedded in Cirip notes.
Thus the conversation in the group is built around these learning design objects seen as a
type of platform social objects. They can also be considered meta-objects, as they reflect scenarios
for different activities on the platform.

The LD group activities are described below and in Figure 8.5.1:

a LD is embedded in a message with a dedicated tag; LD can be created by a single member or
collaboratively, or can be imported as Compendium LD; different versions of this LD can
appear in different messages, with the same tag;
articles in which the LD was presented; the same tag is used in the messages in which articles
are embedded or specified as links;
other articles/resources with LD/scenarios similar with the original LD;
articles/presentations/resources/quotes can be embedded, the same tag is used;
discussions/validations/proposals for improvements/uses related to LD/resources, tag is used;
LD can be used/improved/re-created in educational activities/courses hosted in cirip groups;
feedback shared in LDs group;
group facilitators can present the most important LDs in the Materials section of the group,
specifying the corresponding tags based on which all the corresponding messages can be

71 http://www.cirip.ro/grup/lds
105

retrieved;
the Tagcloud, Members, statistics/graph sections of LDs group give information about the
interactions around a LD specified by a tag;
LD is shared on other social networks, specifying the link to the messages of LDs group related
to that LD (retrieved using the specific tag).

Notes: it would be useful to specify a LD for each course/educational activity on cirip hosted
in a group, which can be improved while running the activity, then share it in LDs group, and
possible reuse; for each complex LD is possible to open a separate group on cirip.

Figure 8.5.1. Learning Design object specifying how LD group works, note at
cirip.ro/status/4360149
8.5.2. Learning design for academic courses. Bloom Taxonomy for Cirip activities
For modelling the courses using learning scenarios, the university courses hosted on
Cirip.eu were the subject of analysis. During these courses the students learn and practice different
Web2.0 technologies/applications, such as: RSS feeds, social bookmarking, social networking,
blogging and microblogging, wikis, mashups, presentation and document sharing tools,
images/audio/video creation/editing/sharing, mindmapping, screen recording, and digital
storytelling.
In this manner, the dimensioning of learning scenarios, in order to identify primar impact
elements in using the microblogging technology for study and learning, was based on establishing
specific contents for each instruction level, in conformity with the recommendations noted by Cross
and Conole (2009).
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For the large category of learning activities on the platform we tried to readapt the taxonomy
of Bloom (Churches, 2009).
Table 8.5.1. Bloom taxonomy rewritten for the on-line environment of cirip
Level / Category

Remembering

Understanding

Applying

Key words / Examples of activities

Retrieving: messages can be sent and received online through Web,
email, mobile, SMS / IM / Jabber / Gtalk / mJAVA, firefox extension
CiripFox / iGoogle cGadget / ciripAIR, FF Ubiquity, Twitter account
/ from RSS2cirip.
Listing: widgets on sites, notifications by email, SMS, iCIRIP.
Basic search on different criteria; for each search an RSS feed is
generated:
search messages - in all public messages, in personal
messages, in accounts / feeds / current groups or in followed
feeds / groups;
search users after different criteria at Users page (name,
gender, location, microblogging domain);
search groups after criteria - at Groups page (name, moderator,
type);
search feeds at Feeds page (name, URL).
Social networking - each microblog has a network section, displaying
followers and followed users, groups and feeds.
Highlighting through Real-Time Wall and Timeline
Locating/finding with maps (see also http://www.cirip.ro/cirip/map).
Advanced searching with Twingly.
Categorising and tagging (see TagCloud sections for microblogs,
groups, feeds).
Commenting (see reply messages with @ and RC and email for an
entire group).
Annotating: bookmarklet button cirip (Send on cirip).
Subscribing (RSS2cirip, monitoring RSS blogs, other sites).
Twittering - Twitter integration (cirip2twitter, twitter2cirip at message
level, user (authentification) or for import to/from groups).
Classifying/comparing (with TOP statistics, Network from each user
microblog menu).
Summarising: collaborative documents (voicethread, dotsub,
mindmeister).
Collection/explanation: mindmapping in courses strategy (in
collaborative or individual settings) mindmeister, mindomo,
spicynodes, diagrammr.
Show &tell: audio/video recording tools vocaroo, seesmic and
lifestreaming qik.
Loading: any type of file (pdf, doc, xls, odt, etc).
Illustration: capzles (historic tale construction application).
Screencapturing: screenr, screenjelly, screencastle.
Presentation with prezi, glogster, authorstream, capzles, notaland.
Interview: any audio recorder > mp3 files are embedded in messages;
vocaroo, lifestreaming.
Uploading: flickr, picasa, photopeach, youtube, vimeo, slideshare.
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Analysing

Evaluating

Creating

Sharing: links (shorten), audio (eok, deezer, blipfm, trilulilu), video

(youtube, vimeo, 220.ro, myvideo), presentation (slideshare,
photopeach).
Editing: dotsub, google documents (students can work in collaboration).
Polls and surveys (polls and quizzes can be created and responses can
be sent through Web and SMS, and poll facility from Photopeach
and Google Form).
Mindmaps: mindmeister, mindomo, spicynodes, diagrammr.
Graph any image (by URL) can represent the result of a graph utility,
google drawings.
Commenting: @ replies and through RC.
Testing (Quizz and Polls, google forms).
Moderating, collaborating, networking the user is turning into
content creator / group facilitator.
All of the multimedia objects embedded in messages.

But how do we achieve the promotion of new teaching methods by using the learning
scenarios? From the cognitive arhitectures described before, for constructing learning scenarios
with final goal to the visible improvement of the students motivation to learn, the aplications of
cognitive maps detach (see Figure 8.5.2).

Figure 8.5.2. Learning scenarios proposed for a course, source http://www.cirip.ro/status/2488153

Note: We say this because we do consider that the success key in using microblogging in
education is to be aware of the fact that there is a relationship between the student, the technologic
environment / the platform and his learning activities / the education to use microblogging after the
course end.
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Like all communication and collaboration on Cirip, the LD group is an illustration of JP

Rangaswami's metaphor: "Conversations grow around social objects, much like pearls grow around
microscopic dust. Social objects are about growth, they are live72.
The group encourages peer-working and peer-mentoring in creating / recreating scenarios,
but also in preparation and facilitation of courses and educational events. A teacher or facilitator can
apply succcessful scenarios, and can be assisted / helped in facilitating the course by a more
experienced colleague. Feedback will be brought in LD group, by teachers and participants for all
members benefit.
The immediate consequence of such collaboration was both rethinking the teaching process
and learning activities / objects and redesigning the curriculum - see Figure 8.5.3.

Figure 8.5.3. Learning activities design model, source http://www.cirip.ro/status/2497482

A Diploma thesis we have coordinated focused on creating a CompendiumLD2CiripLD
desktop application for converting a CompendiumLD scenario into a Cirip LD object (Adam,
2010).
CompendiumLD is being developed as part of the Open University Learning Design
initiative, and is currently funded by the Open University and JISC 73.
This way the experience of other communities of practice around LD can be shared on Cirip,
enlarging the experience of teachers and practitioners who activate in the LD Cirip
group/community.

72 http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2008/02/16/musing-about-social-objects-molluscs-that-matter/
73 http://compendiumld.open.ac.uk/about.html

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Figure 8.5.4. A part of a CompendiumLD scenario

Figure 8.5.5. The corresponding Cirip LD object obtained with CompendiumLD2CiripLD, note at
http://www.cirip.ro/status/3064095

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8.6. Learning Analytics and Assessment Facilities

As presented in a previous chapter, Learning Analytics is a emerging field in education,
having as purpose to identify, collect, manage and interpret learners big data to improve the
educational process.
Learning Analytics and Assessment facilities were implemented on Cirip, having as
characteristics:
data collected and analysed are related to learners activities in the courses groups, to
the interaction / communication in other groups and with other users (external
learners), but also on the Social Media platforms connected with Cirip
the period of observation for a participant is longer than the period of a course,
because usually a user remains active on the platform, building and consolidating
his/her own PLE
the aims are to personalize the learning process, to correctly assess learners activities,
to give a prompt feedback and to improve courses using the experience/data gained in
those already run.
In the following the data collected, the metrics developed, the methods to visualized them by
students and facilitators are presented, together with a review of facilities offered by other social
LMSs.
8.6.1. Projects for Social Media Assessment
The activity, participation and interaction of students on different social media platforms
during courses cannot be assessed or marked by using traditional assessment strategies. Also, most
universities don't offer assessment procedures guidance related to the identification, ownership,
safety, privacy and record-keeping of such Web 2.0 work produced for assessment.
After a review of the existing assessment strategies for courses using different social media,
we propose a set of microblogging metrics for assessing students activity and learning
communities coagulation on microblogging platforms. The indicators were implemented on the
microblogging platform Cirip.eu, facilitating student assessment in formal and informal courses,
and observations on the moderation and quality of the courses. The set can be adapted for other
microblogging platforms used in education.
This section is also meant to be a space for reflecting on several indicators of social
interactions in the microsphere, indicators which may prove useful in research from the perspective
of the discourse and the dynamics of establishing connections with others. We'll try to define, and to
discuss several indicators of social interactions in the microsphere, indicators which may prove
useful in research from the perspective of:
the discourse and the dynamics of establishing connections with others
the dimenssion and relevance of the developed PLE/PLN, and
the ePortfolio.
The analysis will focus on the learning communities and the communities of practice
developed on the microblogging platforms Twitter and Cirip.eu, but it can be generalized and
extended to other implementations as well.
With the increased use of social media applications, a large number of universities worldwide are
integrating them in the teaching-learning process, in research and in professional development.
During the last six years, the technology of microblogging has been adopted in a variety of
contexts, its usefulness becoming more and more compelling for educational actors, in schools and
universities, in training and workplace learning.
The activity, participation and interaction between students on different social media platforms
(on microblogging platforms too) during courses cannot be assessed or marked by using traditional
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assessment strategies. Also, most universities don't offer assessment procedures guidance related to
the identification, ownership, safety, privacy and record-keeping of such Web 2.0 work produced
for assessment.
A few notable projects were developed concerning the best way to assess the students work on
social media and on microblogging platforms during courses, but an ongoing consultation between
teachers and policy makers is needed.
Often used interchangeably with Web 2.0, social media have different forms such as blogs,
microblogs, social networks, media sharing sites, social bookmarking, curation and social
aggregation applications, wikis, virtual worlds, social games and other collaborative applications.
The integration of social media in academia has marked a shift from eLearning to eLearning2.0, a
term coined by Stephen Downes (2005), which implies:
informal / social learning are integrated in formal learning;
during courses, the learning community includes not only students and facilitators, but also
peers worldwide;
students build their own ePortfolios and Personal Learning Environments;
the Learning Management Systems (LMS) are enlarged by using Free and Open Source
Software (FLOSS), Open Educational Resources (OER), collaborative content and
interactions on Web 2.0 platforms/applications, such as blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasts.
Many reports and research studies emphasize the advantages of using social media in education:
reflective, creative, collaborative and peer work is encouraged, positive impact on students'
retention, digital skills are cultivated (Conole and Alevizou, 2010; Grosseck and Holotescu, 2012e)
development of competences for lifelong learning and employability (Starcic and Turk, 2010).
The evaluation and grading of students' activity, participation and interaction on different
social media platforms during courses cannot use traditional assessment strategies. To build and to
assure quality assessment strategies and practices, in line with the courses curricula and learning
objectives, are complex, challenging and demanding tasks arising from factors such as:
the content can be collaboratively created not only with peers enrolled in the same course,
but also with external learners and contributors, and can be distributed on different platforms
too;
each student's work has to be identified, also safety, privacy and record-keeping have to be
assured (gray et al., 2010);
issues of copyright and ownership have to be taken into account;
if the instructions given to the learners are not clear and explicit in terms of what is
expected, the management burden for the instructor can become overwhelming (Conole
and Alevizou, 2010);
peer and collaborative assessment have to be integrated.
In the following, we will briefly review some notable projects related to assessing students
in social media enhanced courses. Although the projects don't refer specifically to microblogging,
they can be useful as well for teachers and educational actors interested in assessing students
activities on microblogging platforms.
After analysing 17 selected cases, where academics have set assessable activities,
establishing an inter-relation between learning objectives, assessment tasks and marking criteria,
Gray et al. (2010a) make recommendations for a quality assessment:
integration with other elements and forms of assessment should be clear;
is linked to specified learning objectives;
produces evidence of desired learning outcomes;
is supported by adequate instructions and marking rubrics;
encourages academic honesty;
provides explanatory and diagnostic feedback;
enables peer review and moderation of marking;
can be externally evaluated for curriculum accreditation and recognition of prior learning.
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Another work of Gray et al. (2010b), also part of the Assessment of student web 2.0
authoring Edna Project74, contains good practice guidelines, in the form of three checklists:
an affordances checklist, to support an appropriate fit between what web 2.0 activities entail
and what assessment is trying to achieve;
a processes checklist, to support individual and organisational learning throughout the cycle of
assessment activities;
a policies checklist, to support practices that make assessment safe and fair for students and
staff.
Assessment 2.0 (Tinoca, 2011) is another valuable research work, which defines eassessment as all technology-enabled assessment activities where the design and student activities
(complete, present, submit) must be mediated by technologies. The conceptual framework for eassessment addresses four dimensions: authenticity, consistency, transparency and practicability.
8.6.2. Indicators for interactions in microblogging communities
Popularity
This indicator can be obtained easily and is based on the relation between the number of
followers of a user and the number of messages sent.
For Twitter, the determinations of this indicator can be obtained with mashups such as
Twitterholic, Twitter-Friend, Friend-to-Follower-Ratio and so on. In the case of the Romanian
Twittosphere, the Ze List application has a special section75, where classifications can be consulted
according to the number of followers, of persons being followed and of the number of messages
written during the last week.
On Cirip.eu popularity may be analyzed on the Users page, which allows listing according
to the number of messages written, but also according to the ratio between the followers and the
number of messages written.
Influence
Influence is probably the most visible indicator in the case of an analysis, both in an
educational and a business context.
In the case of Twitter microblogging platform, a series of applications have been developed,
whose use must be handled with certain precaution and/or a qualitative analysis. Examples:
Twitterholic or TwitterCounter: lists the classifications of users according to the number of
followers (although Barack Obama leads the classification, he has only a few messages
posted in comparison with Chris Brogan or Guy Kawasaki, who dont even enter top 10).
TwitterRank: a sort of Google Rank for messages, updated every 20 minutes, based on an
algorithm which takes into consideration the number of answers received by a user (i.e.
those messages with @user_name which practically transform Twitter into a huge semipublic conversational sphere) and offers a more realistic classification than those of
Twitterholic or Twittercounter.
TwitterGrader: developed by the marketing company HubSpot, it takes into account the
number of followers, the power of the network they create, the rhythm of the postings, the
degree of personalization of the profile, but also other factors.
Twinfluence: is based on several very interesting metrics such as the social capital, the first
and second order network, the increase speed of the network, the concentration, the access
and the influence sphere of the network.
TweetValue: (with a funny feature) quantifies from a monetary point of view the value of
74 Edna Project http://www.groups.esa.edu.au/course/view.php?id=2146
75 http://www.zelist.ro/zetweety.html

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ones own profile. It is based on followers and answers.

The authority level on Cirip.eu can be followed on the Tops page, where hierarchies appear
according to the number of messages, persons being followed, and followers, answers received and
sent. The focus of a user in a classification will display the characteristics for that top, making its
position visible in the other hierarchies.

Figure 8.6.1. Tops page on Cirip.eu

Coagulation index
We define this indicator by subindexes: the covering / density of the network, the
conversational coefficient 76, the reciprocity and the relevance.
The network covering takes into account the messages sent and received, including also the
messages addressed with @user.
For example, for Twitter, the analysis of usage habits can be realised with the help of the
TwitterFriends application. This is based on the existence of three networks: the general one, made
up of people you follow and of those who follow you, the network made up of the followers of your
own followers (your friends friends) and the list made up of those persons with whom you chat
most frequently (the hidden part of the conversational chain). For the received messages (or those
referring to the user in the message) only the last 30 days are taken into account, and at least 2
messages addressed with @.

76 It remains to clarify in the future to what degree we may consider the coefficient of posted relations a subindex.

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Figure 8.6.2. Network covering for the user cami13, http://twitter-friends.com/?user=cami13

(screenshot from feb. 21st 2009)
The conversational coefficient, introduced by the Twitter-Friends creator (@furukama), registers
the number of messages received / sent and that of the Web resources posted in messages,
displaying them both as percentages and visually, under the form of a cloud (tagcloud). In Figure
8.6.3 the double arrow indicates more or less regular discussions with conversational partners (who
may not belong to ones personal network). Global indices are also reported in the statistic data
(both for the conversational and relational level and for reposted messages).

Figure 8.6.3. Visual representation with Twitter-Friend for the Twitter account @cami13
Reciprocity is found in the degree of mutuality of the relation with another user / other
users.
In my account there is a certain disequilibrium between the number of persons I follow
and those who follow me. A large number of followed persons requires an effort of attention,
energy and a time budget that I lack. We simply cannot be connected with everybody
@gabriela, www.cirip.ro/u/gabriela
Relevance refers only to the network made up of the persons you follow and who follow
you, this depending a lot on how microblogging is perceived: as an informational or a relational
network. If you want to keep informed, then you would probably have a larger number of persons
you follow (whose activity is closely connected mainly to your professional field). The analyst
Valdis Krebs77 states that in the construction of a relevant network it is important to follow people
who have an important social circle, practically a user employs the redundance of connections for
obtaining a relevant network. He indicates a number under 100 followed persons (of which 50
persons are definitely enough if you really want to read each message posted and another 20-30 just
for the sake of the conversational bustle). Others refer to Dunbars number and indicate a circle
77 http://www.thenetworkthinker.com/2009/01/so-many-people-so-little-time.html

115

larger than 100. Valdis Krebs also states that visualizations of relational networks as maps are like
metaphors and are not accurate, correct, current, perfect representations of ones own social circle.
Question: is the number of followed persons directly proportional to the number of posted
messages? To what degree does this matter when you decide to follow a certain person? Because
applications like Tweedeck and Twirl allow the creation of groups by interest zones, and things
seem to acquire a completely different connotation or, according to Beth Kanters words, in her
comment to Krebs posting: So, the dipping is like sharpening a pencil or way of finding some
inspiration or a different way of thinking.78
Time wise there isn't necessarily much difference between 100 to 1000. Weird as it
sounds I'm considerably more time efficient following more than I was with less.
What changes is the nature of the conversation, less than 200 feels considerably
more intimate but more than 200 provides more diverse idea exchange plus greater
chance of faster assistance. Sue Waters79
As for the Cirip.eu platform, the Network section of a microblog offers information on the
network developed around that user, displaying:
the followed users: in blue if the relation is mutual, grey only if the current user follows
someone;
in red the followed groups;
with dotted line users who follow the current user, without being followed.
For each user in the network, the last written message is displayed, along with the direct
messages counter he/she exchanged with the central user.

Figure 8.6.4. The network of a Cirip.eu user

Figure 8.6.5. The Cirip.eu group development

network for the microblogging course

By analyzing the network, some interesting remarks concerning the conversational

coefficient can be made:
we can look for the cause of an unbalanced communication with some of the network users, if
78 idem
79 ibidem

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the number of sent messages differs largely from the received ones. Figure 8.6.4 illustrates a
balanced communication between Signum2001 and Deea: 19/20;
if theres a direct communication with a user who only follows, without being followed, it is
probably useful that following becomes reciprocal;
we can analyze the number of users outside the learning / practice community belonging to a
participants network, the topics dealt by the latter (the field could be mentioned in the
description of each microblog), direct communication and so on. A first conclusion refers to the
expansion of the PLE/PLN, the existence of discussions, the validations beyond the learning
community, these being only some of the advantages brought by microblogging;
similarly, we can evaluate the number, topic, participation to other groups, than the one for a
course or those for collaborating with colleagues; thus, there is the possibility of discussing,
learning, approaching other interest topics, for study or research.
The total number of a users messages addressing other persons can be found by searching
@ in his/her messages. The relation between the addressed messages and the total number of
messages represents the conversational coefficient, which should be as large as possible, around
50%.
By searching @user in all messages, the total number of messages received from others is
determined. It is advisable that the messages addressed to other users and those received should be
close, indicating a balanced interaction at the level of the entire network built by that user.
For a group, the Network lists the members and the number of messages written by each of
them. The causes of a different participation or motivation in a course group can be searched, for
example: a deficient moderation of the facilitator, the lack of certain attractive interactive activities,
unclear issues about the functioning of the platform, etc.
Exposure index
This indicator is built starting from the set of the discussed elements, taking into
consideration the topics approached by a person on her / his microblog.

Figure 8.6.6. The group tag cloud of the microblogging course

The hashtags.org site indexes #hashtags (ketwords preceded by #), making them visible to
other users. Practically, these hashtags belong to the content generated by users, being initiated /
chosen by users (they are not imposed)80. On Cirip.eu, the exposure index can be analyzed starting
from the group and user tag clouds:

80
More information can be found on the wiki http://twitter.pbwiki.com/Hashtags (those interested can follow
these at http://twemes.com).

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the most frequent terms, the users who received most messages, the most discussed resources
(a click on any term will display the messages including it see figure 8.6.6);
in the case of a learning community, the fact that some curricula keywords do not appear in
the tag cloud may indicate the necessity of insisting on those chapters in the future;
topics beyond the initial course curriculum may be discovered, which can be included in
future courses or which can be suggested as topics for group projects.

Thus can be initiated subsequent analyses starting with the most active members, nouns,
verbs (meaning the notions on which the discussions and group activities are focused), the degree of
participation (group, everybody), the warm and open atmosphere (hello, thanks) etc.
Geographical distribution
The best way to understand complex data structures, the relations established within a
network, the dynamics or the interactivity of a community is by their graphical visualization.
The geographical indicator suggested analyses and exposes in a graphical form the signs of
our online presence, thus practically drawing up a social map under continuous expansion, showing
in detail the ways in which we interact and expose ourselves in a public space81.
This is allowed by Twitter applications such as TwittEarth, Twittter Spy, TwitterVision,
TwitterPoster etc.82. From the two Romanian microspheres the messages appear in a Google Maps
mash-up, under the Map section of Cirip.eu (see Figure 8.6.7).

Figure 8.6.7. For the visualization of the tag clouds the Map section is used (Cirip.eu)
As a consequence to what we presented previously, we can define a global conversational
index through the perspective of the subjects approached entirely on the two microspheres: the
Romanian Twittosphere, and the Ciriposphere respectively (Figure 8.6.7).
Temporal distribution
Although the conversational model focuses on the pragmatic and structural aspects of the
conversation, the temporal distribution of participation can be followed in the timeline section of a
81 Miron Ghiu, http://twitter.com/nomaduzzu
82 See for details http://blog.twitter.com/2008/03/visualizing-twitter.html and http://flowingdata.com/2008/03/12/17ways-to-visualize-the-twitter-universe/

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user microblog on Cirip.eu (Figure 8.6.8). Similarly, we can follow the distribution of messages
sent within a group.
For Twitter one can use applications such as TwitterTimeLine (http://twittimeline.come.cc/) or
TweetDumpr.

Figura 8.6.8. Timeline of a microblog on Cirip.eu

Online social presence
In 2005 Jyri Engestrom, the co-developer of the Jaiku microblogging platform, launched a
theory stating that, in most of the cases, people base their relations on certain objects, which he
named social objects. These can be both physical, such as location, and semi-physical (such as
attention) or even conceptual, such as on-line presence (Engestrom, 2005). Engestrom claims
that people dont interact with each other, but rather by way of certain objects imposing a commun
value. According to this theory, which seems extremely flexible when approaching online social
networks, objects become the centre of any social relation and the nucleus/fundamental notions of a
(strong) social network.
Networks can thus be formed around these objects, connecting people with objects, objects
with people, objects with objects and, perhaps, people with people. In microblogging, the social
object is clear: the online presence, i.e. what you want to do online. The lifestream can be supplied
online or in various ways, from using a desktop or mobile client, to more automatic entries by
adding an RSS feed to the microblogging service used (TwitterFeed). The expansion of the presence
status can be met, for now, only on Cirip.eu microblogging platform. Thus, the structural diversity
of PLE/PLN with networks of educational resources which can be integrated in messages,
represents a specific analysis element which includes:
objects selected from networks and included in messages as useful resources;
objects created by the user in question which can be saved in the Multimedia section of the
microblog, as a personal resources directory;
other peoples reactions, comments, useful in assessing the relevance of the resources.
The microsphere analysis indicators such as the level of influence and trust and the
informational flux, the economy of interactions, the discipline of communication, the linguistic
range, the context and texture aspects of conversation, etc require the attention of several factors
(the structure of the relations, the analysis of feelings/emotions, the conversational structure, the
classification of topics of temporal analyses) and the focus on messages, and users respectively.
Although the latter have not been included here, they are subjects that, in our opinion, could open a
new chapter dealing with the study of the relations within communities built on microspheres.
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8.6.3. A Set of Microblogging Metrics for Student Assessment

In this section we will present a set of microblogging metrics that were implemented on the
microblogging platform Cirip.eu. The indicators can be used for the formative and summative
assessment of students activity and learning communities coagulation on microblogging platforms:
popularity: relation between the number of followers of a user and the number of messages
sent
influence: based on the number of followers and the distribution of ones own messages
(referenced or resent)
coagulation index: the covering / density of the network, the conversational coefficient, the
reciprocity and the relevance
exposure index: set of the discussed elements, taking into consideration the topics
approached by a person on her / his microblog
geographical distibution: analyses and exposes in a graphical form the signs of our online
presence, thus practically drawing up a social map under continuous expansion, showing in
detail the ways in which we interact and expose ourselves in a public space
temporal distribution: messages distribution on time
online social presence: type and quality of messages.
Some interesting remarks can be noted on the interdependences between:
the types/the complexity of objects integrated in messages
the types of communication public/ private group, learning/ hobby/ business/ socializing;
as an example, personal audio/video interventions appear mostly in private groups
the coagulation degree of the community
the facilitation of the group moderator
web-based access and mobile access.
Dedicated extensions and statistics were implemented on the Cirip.eu platform in order to
support the assessment metrics. The Network section of a microblog offers information about the
community developed around that user, displaying:
the followees;
the groups followed;
the users who follow the current one, those who are not followed being marked with a
different colour.
For each user in the network the last message written and the number of direct messages
exchanged with the central user are displayed.
The Network section of a user / group displays also a series of statistics, which facilitate the
analysis on various research directions:
the activity
the relations formed
the interests
the means of participation
the content of messages.
The statistics of a students participation or of a course group can be compared with the
statistics of similar courses. The study of other courses scenarios published as Learning Design
objects in the Cirip specific group can give teachers some guidance for a better facilitation and
structure of the course.
By analyzing the network, some interesting remarks concerning the conversational
coefficient can be made:
we can look for the cause of an unbalanced communication with some of the network users,
if the number of sent messages differs largely from the received ones;
if theres a direct communication with a user who only follows, without being followed, it
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would probably be useful that following becomes reciprocal;

we can analyze the number of users outside the learning / practice community belonging to a
participants network, the topics dealt by the latter (the field could be mentioned in the
description of each microblog), direct communication and so on. A first conclusion refers to
the expansion of the PLE/PLN, the existence of discussions, the validations beyond the
learning community, these being only some of the advantages brought by microblogging;
similarly, we can evaluate the number, topic, participation in other groups than the one for a
course or those for collaborating with colleagues; thus, there is the possibility of discussing,
learning, approaching other topics of interest, for study or research.
As an example, examining the Network section of the microblog developed by the user
@gabriela, some observations can be drawn.
A good ratio between the number of followees (170) and followers (225), sub-unitary, but
close to 1. A large number of followers indicates the utility of messages and interaction with
@gabriela, while a large number of followees the interest to learn, to collaborate. Around half of the
followees follow her too, which indicates the development of long-term collaboration relations.
The statistics of the Network section lead to the conclusion that there is an active
participation and interaction within the Cirip.eu community. The same situation is shown by the
data in the section Followed Groups: collaboration across a large group area.
The large number of resources posted in messages (2730) indicates a considerable quantity
of information shared with the other users and many information sources (35 RSS feeds).
More than 50 audio files, around 300 images of all types, 400 video files and more than 200
files (mostly pdf) and SlideShare, VoiceThread or prezi presentations show that the user @gabriela
uses the entire range of multimedia object types provided by the Cirip microblogging platform.
The interaction with the other participants was realized by using all technologies and
applications for interaction with the platform, including mobile ones.
The integration of social media, in particular microblogging, in academic courses demands a
new pedagogy of the teaching and learning process and a rethinking of student assessment. It is not
only about bringing into education a set of new tools and technologies; it is about a change in the
learning ethos. And the way in which such learning is assessed needs to be consistent with this
change in learning philosophy (Online Educa, 2010).
The microblogging metrics defined for the Cirip.eu educational microblogging platform can
be applied both for summative and formative assessment, and can be adapted for other
microblogging applications used in education.
As future development we aim to integrate the Learning Analytics for Cirip courses with
existing institutional metrics and reporting mechanisms.

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Figure 8.6.9.Statistics for the user @gabriela (source: Network section of cirip.ro/u/gabriela)

8.7. Conclusions
This chapter presents the Cirip features as a Mobile Social Learning Management System
(msLMS): Learning Management and Mobile Learning features, how Social Objects are integrated
as (small) Open Educational Resources in the platform flowstream, how Learning Scenarios can be
specified as Learning Design Objects, and also the facilities designed / implemented for student
Assessment.
Each group of Cirip acts as a msLMS, having a has a specific groupname which appears in
its URL (http://www.cirip.ro/group/groupname). Also, the groupname is used to post a message in
that group (syntax is @groupname for messages sent from the browser interface or just groupname
in a text message). The group virtual space preserves the whole materials/interactions of the group
members.
Its virtual space represents a simple, efficient, adaptable and scalable solution for:
course in a university/college;
company training;
community of practice;
122

team collaboration and management;

space for mentoring/coaching;
service related to an application/product;
event: workshop, conference, etc.

The features of the platform was added in an incremental cycle, in the second phase of the
DBR development (Figure 2.3).
8.7.1. Contributions
With a centralised architecture described in Chapter 7 and developed using a DBR approach
under our coordination starting from 2008, Cirip has a number of unique features not implemented
by other microblogging platforms.
These characteristics are specific for a Mobile Social Learning Management System and
were presented in this chapter; all these represent technological innovations:
1. creating public or private user groups; collaboration groups can be established between
the members of a class or a university year, for a course enhancement or to run an entire
course; for a conference, event, workshop, etc.; in a specific group section, the
moderators can post announcements and materials, also can send alerts via SMS/e-mail
to members; with sections for group announcements, materials, statistics, a group
becomes a social Learning Management System (sLMS), engaging students in Problem
Based Learning (PBL), case studies, and collaborative projects ;
2. the possibility to embed multimedia objects in the notes: images, audio and (live) video
files, presentations, files, livestreaming, which can function as mini-lectures; the
platform integrates a wide range of Social Media content, organized around (open)
educational resources; this integration is realized in order to encourage teachers and
students to discover/explore/use new platforms, and to use their content; in perspective
to (collaboratively) create content/educational resources on these platforms;
3. scenarios for learning and new pedagogical approaches in using Social Media in
education can be captured and formally represented as learning design objects; the
learning design objects can be shared, discussed, improved, and reused on the
microblogging platform;
4. the possibility to monitor RSS feeds for sites/blogs/activities on other social networks or
search feeds; Cirip remains one of the few RSS aggregators, the notifications can be
monitored online, using a mobile browser or received as free SMSs;
5. tags, statistics, personal and group tagclouds, representations of users interaction
networks;
6. Learning Analytics and assessment features integrating learners activities in courses but
also informal interaction with other groups / users and activities on the Social Media
platforms connected with Cirip; microblogging metrics applied both for summative and
formative assessment;
7. polls and quizzes which can be answered online or by SMS;
8. export and import (based on optional search terms) notes to/from RSS feeds, Twitter,
blogs and other Social Media platforms, thus enlarging a user profile or a group content;
9. specific mobile learning features.
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The conceptual innovations are:

1. the openness toward Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational
Practices (OEP);
2. the implementation of Social Mobile Learning Management Systems as public/private
groups on a microblogging platform;
3. the integration of objects created on other Social Media platforms/collaborative
technologies, and the connections to these environments;
4. the specification of learning scenarios as Learning Design objects which can be shared,
discussed, improved and reused.

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Chapter 9. Case Studies for Platform Validation

9.1. Introduction
During the last seven years the platform has being used in many educational projects (Figure
9.1.1), the most interesting being exposed here: for Online Courses and Courses Enhancement in
high schools and universities, for Learning from the Stream, for integrating MOOCs in Blended
Courses, for Teacher Training, for developing Personal Learning Environments, for Curation, and
also for Monitoring Civic Events, such as the Romanian Presidential Elections in 2009.
Each case study presents the possibilities offered by other microblogging platforms for that
particular usage and also the advantages and drawbacks of Cirip. All these case studies are part of
the third DBR phase, aiming at testing and refinement of the platform, also at reflecting and
innovating open pedagogies.

Figure 9.1.1. Learning contexts on the platform; note at http://www.cirip.ro/status/1629510

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Table 9.1.1 illustrates the usages of Cirip in different educational activities and contexts for
which we were the facilitator, mentor or manager; the names of the groups that hosted the specified
activities are listed.
Table 9.1.1. Educational activities on Cirip
Number Type of educational
Description
activity/context
1.
Online
Groups for delivering online
courses/workshops
courses/workshops for
for universities
universities;
2.
University courses
Groups for enhancing university
enhancement
courses: announcements,
materials, discussions, students
activities and assessment;
3.

5.

High and primary

school courses
enhancement
Online courses for
companies/individuals
Project groups

6.

Collaborative spaces

7.

Training of trainers

Courses for training of trainers;

8.

Communities of
practice

9.

Smart city projects

10.

Conference/events
backchannels

Collaboration of group members

working on a specific
topic/project;
Activities related to smart city
projects;
Interaction around resources and
real-time multimedia notes sent by
in-site and off-site participants in
different conferences and events;
follow up activities;

11.

Students
coaching/mentoring

4.

Groups for enhancement of course

taught in high and primary
schools;
Online courses developed and run
for companies or individuals;
Groups used for collaboration of
the partners in European projects.
Used also for projects
dissemination;
Groups used for internal
comunication and collaboration of
teams in companies, institutions;

Interaction with students

preparing their graduation and

Groups
iac, socialmedia, seminar

grupuvvg, siac, progweb,

slavici, mps, curspc,
uvvg13, peda2, peda09,
psiho2008, mru, mpot,
sts4man, sts4cig
france, klasse, prima,
spitze, deutch, toll,
lideea, cursmb
3lwelfare, wetentm,
taccle2, sutraproject,
insightProjectLLL
timsoft, proiecteposibile,
prpatrat, carga, telpark,
eta2u, scada, poka,
evensys, cargo, voxline,
tmf
wetentm, iac, taccle2,
smis
lds

masca, teatrutm, ro89,

prezidentiale
ciripMeet1, eduCirip,
timetravel, mbc09,
mobile, geekmeet1tm,
ntec09, tweetmeettm,
solutiicriza, icl09ws05,
itschool, ecollab,
seedcamp, pelc10,
plebcn, socialmedia,
somobnet, smis, else,
co11, smart2013, tedxtm,
miss, seminar,
smsummit, conkfc, itfest,
me09, castel, besttim
diploma,
competentedigitale2010
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12.

Students/pupils peer
work

13.

Informal/hobby
activities

master thesis. Mentoring pupils

preparing for exams;
Private groups for
communication/collaboration of
students/pupils;

Resources and interaction about

education, haiku, technology,
music, books, games, sport,
celebrations, design, photo,
tourism, movies, etc.

togetherG, osut, ligaAC,

aiesectm, pldiploma,
fjsc, happyclass/scoala
(communication between
kindergarden/school and
parents)
scoalaideala,
unhaikupezi, roSpore,
clickandplay, techgeek,
bloggersTM, bloggeri,
diete, march09,
eurovision, colinde,
povesti, citate, paste,
cecitesc, decoratii,
myxmastree,
euro2008revistapresei,
design101, mymusic,
muzica, gadgetbuzz,
arla, revistaTus,
fotografie, foto,
proturist, movietime

9.2. Online Courses and Courses Enhancement

There are already an important number of courses which were run for different universities
or for continuous education during the last 7 years.
The first one was delivered in June, 2008, in a private group of Cirip.eu. It was a world
premiere, the first online course developed and run entirely on a microblogging platform.
It was a course about Microblogging, and its aim was to find out if this technology can be
integrated in the lifelong learning / teaching / collaboration / business / blogging. The topics
addressed were: microblogging platforms, Twitter facilities, Cirip.eu facilities, uses in education,
uses in business, and uses in blogs promotion.
We wanted to investigate:

how to integrate microblogging with other Web2.0 technologies;

if a microblogging platform, in particular Cirip.eu, can be used as a Learning

Management System (LMS), and if it has the needed facilities to run an online
course;

what are the differences between facilitating an online course on such a platform and
one in a classic LMS.

9.2.1. Course Virtual Space Group Facilities

The course was hosted and run in the private group cursmb of the microblogging platform
Cirip.eu.
A group has a special section for announcements (Group News) - another original element of
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the platform, where the moderators can post notes and useful materials for the group activities
(Figure 9.2.1).
The facilitators have published in the announcements both notes on the proposed activities
and course resources: mainly tutorials on course topics, with a variety of multimedia elements,
imported as SCORM/LOM objects.
The discussions on the proposed themes were realized through messages sent by the
participants in the group space. Messages can be sent / monitored online (web site or CiripFox a
Firefox extension) or as: SMS ( its simple to track the group messages via mobile phone); instant
messages; e-mail (daily notices with followed messages, answers, new followers or news are
received by those who activate this option); it is also possible to send e-mail messages on Cirip.eu,
including in groups.
Other valuable options are the facilities to send live video / audio messages and to integrate
multimedia objects in the notes; all of them become part of the information / communication flow :

audio clips saved on a server or vocaroo;

flickr or tinypic images;

youtube, seesmic, vimeo or dotsub videos;

slideshare, voicethread, capzles, notaland, photopeach or flowgram presentations;

pdf, docs or spreadsheet files.

Also the students learn how to find/use/create educational resources on the corresponding social
networks. Their digital skills are improved, and their PLEs/PLNs are enlarged with these networks
too.
Besides discussions and debates conducted by the wide range of messages we carried out a
series of collaborative exercises, which will be presented in a separate section.

Figure 9.2.1. Group news, http://www.cirip.ro/grup/cursmb

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9.2.2. Participation in Discussions

Although initially 50 people have registered, 40 of them have actively participated.
The participants were mainly educational actors (students, teachers, developers, librarians etc.).
They appear in the members section of the group (Figure 9.2.2). For each member, the total number
of contributions in the group is listed. The Network option shows a graphical representation for the
group.
There were almost 1100 messages written in the group, approximately 100 being sent after
the end of the course. On average, each member wrote 25 messages, which demonstrates an
interested participation, and involvement.
The Tagcloud group section (present for any microblog too) allows interesting observations
regarding the terms that appear most often in messages, the most active users, and the resources
specified most frequently in messages.
In Figure 9.2.3 one can see the 50 words that have appeared most often in the last 500 messages.
Topics Tagcloud and Network are interesting features of the groups created on the Cirip.eu
platform, useful in analysing the interactions in learning or practice communities. To evaluate the
participants we have considered:
-

number and quality of messages sent in course group

the eportfolio which consists of public and private messages

number of followers/followings/groups/feeds

number of messages sent to other participants, reactions to messages

direct communication with other participants and with other users of the platform.

The timeline, network, tagcloud sections of microblogs and groups offer useful data for evaluation.

Figure 9.2.2. Group Members section (42 members)

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Figure 9.2.3. Group Tagcloud

9.2.3. Collaborative Activities
In this section we offer an overview of the collaborative activities carried out during the
course, which involved the use of other Web2.0 technologies. For most of the participants this was
the first contact with them, so in advance helpful information was offered:

Puzzle images/digital storytelling - we proposed a combination word - picture

(Creative Commons from flickr) to be associated with microblogs and / or
microblogging. Towards the end of the course this exercise was redone, to see if the
opinion about microblogging was changed during the course.
A collaborative collection on delicious.com created during the course, which was
enlarged and used after the course end.
Translation of Twitter in Plain English video, which is part of the Common Craft
Show collection. Video is posted on dotsub.com, where the transcript was translated
through collaborative editing a document on writeboard.com.
A voicethread object with text and audio comments submitted by members.
Notes on a Flickr image. Starting from wordle.net, a resource suggested by a
participant - TBD, a tagcloud (Figure 9.2.4) with the words that appeared most
frequently in the aprox. first 600 messages of the course was generated. One can
observe: the most active members, nouns, verbs, and notions that appeared most
often in discussions, participation and also a warm and open atmosphere between
participants.
A code of good practice on microblogs with items written by the participants using
the collaborative platform writeboard.com.

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Figure 9.2.4. Tagcloud created with Wordle, http://www.flickr.com/photos/cami13/2573662470/

Furthermore, we recommend that those who design teaching-learning scenarios to take into account
issues such as:
What is the most important thing students should learn about Social Media and why?
How do we achieve this? The ability to employ the didactic methodology and means in
order to convey knowledge, skills and new abilities is translated into the teacher's
capacity to be a good organizer of the setting of activities, to bring experience to the
forefront.
What are students expectations? The teacher must respond to the students need for
information, must guide, counsel and assess them; must show outstanding flexibility in
thinking and bonding with others; must have the skills and the availability to
communicate; must have a good command of scientific content; must express a strong
interest in obtaining efficient results etc.
How much time do we need to spend on Social Media sites?
What are the students interests? Some students become hesitant when it comes to
technical details, and they can instantaneously become alienated from the subject
studied.
Is there an interdisciplinary approach? A correlation with other disciplines such as:
management, sociology, psychology, journalism, advertising etc.?
The topics selected should be interesting, familiar, exciting, and useful in the professional
and personal life. Start from topics that the students probably have some experience with, such as
relationships developed in virtual communities (as they are familiar with Facebook and Twitter) or
the risks entailed by computerization. In order to summarize and integrate what students have
learned, there is a need for an adequate selection of teaching materials:
The course notes, designed to serve as the primary material, have the purposes of
clarifying the disagreements on certain issues, of making complex ideas accessible in a
coherent and concise presentation supported by definitions of key terms, by examples
organized gradually according to complexity, and by specific exercises. But they have
their limitations, such as the format in which they are prepared. This is why, during the
last few years, we have chosen to develop courses using alternative C/LMS (Content /
Learning Management System) systems, such as Google Sites, blogging platforms
(WordPress, Blogger, EduBlog), microblogging (Twitter, Edmodo, Twiducate or Cirip),
networking sites (Ning), wikis (Wikispaces) and even social networks like Facebook
(Figure 3.1).
How should we choose the most suitable teaching-learning media? For us, the efficiency
of media depended mostly on their suitability to concrete learning situations. When we
design a didactic activity, we usually ask ourselves what the most suitable media would
be. With the emergence of new Web 2.0 technologies, the decision regarding the choice
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of media was influenced by:

o the main events during the past years in the field of digital media used by
students (such as the presence and use of social networks like Facebook, blogs
and microblogs Twitter, collaborative wiki-type sites or video sharing platforms
such as YouTube);
o the content of learning (the volume of information, the degree of abstractness, the
interaction and the collaborative (re)construction of educational content);
o the specific characteristics of the group of students (their number, previous
experience, their expectations or interests, etc.);
o the available material resources (equipment, space, materials);
o the time available;
o the potential of the teaching staff to use certain media.
Books on specific topics can form the backbone of the bibliographic material or can be
used in order to supply additional elements for various key themes of the course.
Although there are opinions in favour of the idea that the digital student does not read
and resorts only to Google and Wikipedia, some studies prove the contrary (Prensky,
2001; Head and Eisenberg, 2009). Starting from this premise and from personal
experience as well, we have chosen to employ not only traditional course reading lists,
but digital content (such as the one developed by Google Books or Lulu.com) and social
publishing networks (Scribd, Calameo, Issuu etc.) as well. None of the books written on
social issues in the digital age can be followed in a step-by-step fashion, like a traditional
textbook. Instead, one must select certain passages that rise to the students' level, that
provide challenges or, rather, represent a mix of the two.

Figure 9.2.5. Timeline of different teaching platforms for academic courses,

http://www.dipity.com/ggrosseck/Web-2-0-platforms-for-teaching/?s=t

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Scribd Books on microblogging platform Lulu Content on microblogging,

cirip, http://www.cirip.ro/status/8213005
http://www.cirip.ro/status/3177928
Figure 9.2.6. Social publishing sites like Scribd (left) or Lulu (right) used in academic courses

Articles in (open) academic journals provide explanations of research methods, present

case studies or theories from scientific perspectives (Head and Eisenberg, 2009), can
create contexts relevant to student dialogue, discussion or inquiry or can be used as
starting points for deeper analysis. The drawback is that most students have not been
educated to understand them, but they serve the important purpose of showing students
that the themes discussed in our lectures are the focus of serious and thoroughlyprepared research. On the other hand, we use articles in prestigious journal databases,
which can be accessed on the premises of the university, or employ academic reference
management software like Mendeley, Connotea, Zotero, CiteULike etc., because books
take a long time to be published and a topic as dynamic as Social Media cannot wait
long for new editions. At the same time, we encourage students to search for and within
such publications and include them in the course platform in the materials section.

The curation tool JogTheWeb allows teachers to Lecture capture change the course
accumulate
resources
on a particular
topic, dynamics and improve students
http://www.jogtheweb.com/play/E7IqqUfxaPu3/exploring learning,
-wikipedia--the-other-ways#1
http://www.screenr.com/4Ml
Figure 9.2.7. Examples of media information

Media information is an accessible source, at the crossroads between the students life
experience and academic path. Students can easily find course-related materials not only
in newspapers, popular magazines, specialized press, even on the television and the
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radio, but especially in blogs, microblogs and social networks (one example are the TED
conferences, which are available online; furthermore the presence of mobile devices is
the synonym of a digital native life). The purpose behind using these sources is that of
contrasting their image of computerization, which is often excessive and oriented
towards sales or entertainment (games, music and particularly movies) with the careful
analyses in academic journals.

Social Media projects can be used as part of curriculum in a variety of situations by

individuals or small teams of students: as an interesting way to begin the year, as a
starting place for a collaborative project or just to connect with students and teachers in
other universities.
As the learning process is continuous the training programmes must exist, and both students
and teachers should take part in them.
We must not forget the fact that the students results are also the teachers results. New
teaching techniques based on the technological evolution must be adopted: from redefining learning
environments to cloud computing, mobile learning (fast access to knowledge, new and dynamic
learning possibilities available anytime and anywhere), personal computers, multiplayer or online
games are an important part of young peoples lives and provide them with an opportunity to
increase their social interaction and civic participation.
Ideally, we should try to explore a number of different methodologies, but every alternative
will have its own advantages and disadvantages, both from an economic and pedagogical point of
view. We have opted for:

Learning from events. The classical conferencing is still the most commonly-used
method in most higher education institutions and it is potentially beneficial, as it is
associated with the social interaction between students and between lecturers and
students. Events become not only a way of educating, but also one of socialising, thus
completing a coherent and mature strategy for communicating ideas, concepts, etc. Thus,
during the last few years, we have experimented with the (voluntary) recording of
students in open-source type lectures or events / learning from the microblogging stream
(see Grosseck and Holotescu, 2010).

Collaborative learning by-doing. Already used in higher education within different

forms of cooperative learning arrangements (Schaffert and Ebner, 2010), cooperative
learning with social software is now benefitting from major applications as a method
that is more effective and efficient than traditional forms of training. This methodology
is used when students are intended to work together in small groups for significant
stages of their learning process. There is an abundant specialized literature centred on
collaborative learning of the 2.0 type, and for this reason we will not insist upon
theoretical matters.

Peer-learning / Peer-mentoring. Activities based on individual work research

notebooks, projects essays (with peer-review), reviewing specialized literature can also
actively engage the students in the lectures based on the social issues of computerization.

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Figure 9.2.8. Example of collaborative exercise to define a concept / a term (NotaLand tool on MB),
http://notaland.com/cami13/70859

Show me. Final projects require contact with the teacher and the teachers support.
Several types of projects can be set:
o Individual projects: the theme discussed can be the same for all students or
students can choose their own topic from a list suggested at the beginning of the
course. Students value things that they themselves manage to do well, the things
they solve and bring to fruition through their influence and ingenuity (they learn
by doing and experimenting).
o Team projects: in this case, there can be situations in which only one student does
the work but the project is presented as being a collaborative effort, although
tasks are allocated separately to each member of the group (Google docs,
Voicethread etc.).
o Continuous projects, which are developed systematically over an entire semester,
or final projects, which are presented at the end of the course and thus account
for a large amount of the students participation in the course.
Students can employ all types of audio and visual materials - but they most often
opt for creating PLE / PLN, e-portfolios or digital storytelling and mindmapping
applications - for which they subsequently obtain feedback via poll or quiz-type
applications, using mobile devices in particular. We personally prefer not to grade
the student's technical skills; we do however require that the presentation of the
results be as professional as possible. We favour continuous projects because
they enable us to permanently monitor the students' work and make it possible
for us to intervene at any point in order to provide observations or
recommendations. Students are motivated and love to work on projects related to
topics they are interested in, but, if they are not periodically checked on, they
often postpone writing the projects until the very last moment.

Step by step. Seminars during which each student presents a usually challenging or
controversial topic. The students are given several weeks in which to prepare the
argumentations they will present in front of their colleagues, and the teacher is
permanently guiding them by assuming the role of a facilitator, thus establishing a
from-person-to-person relationship with each course attendant. For the debate
academy we prefer using communication / collaboration methods that are specific to
Web 2.0 (instead of the classical YM chat), and we start from simple instruments such as
wiffiti or Google Moderator.

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Figure 9.2.9. Examples of team projects exercise to translate a videoclip (using GoogleDocs),
http://www.cirip.ro/status/4614450

Life Story hunter / life experiences. Students can learn best about Social Media from
their personal experience, as well the experiences of others. We start by telling students
about our own personal experiences and encourage them to do the same (using
podcasting, for instance). Students become aware of the way in which computerization
affects their own lives, as well as the lives of the people around them.
Irrespective of the method employed, the method that is most suited to a Social Media based
learning process will be the one that meets the students expectations.
9.2.4. Remarks about the Learning Community
For a successful learning community that preserves the motivation and interest of its
members, the facilitator plans thoroughly, provides enthusiasm, gives the same attention, feedback,
encouragement to all. You clarify or learn new things sharing with the others, you feel that your
opinions are important.
When facilitating an online course on a microblogging platform:
The teacher should show a positive, open and responsive attitude to the changes brought
by microblogging in education
The teacher should be able to adapt the initial curriculum, in particular to follow some
fruitful students suggestions
Students should be encouraged to adopt methods of mutual consultation (including
Direct Messages or using @user_name), especially in group projects
Ensuring quality teaching of using microblogging depends on teachers professional
profile.
Teachers should moderate the participation of students in group communication.
The course promoted values and attitudes among participants, and an ambient awareness for
communication, connections, and immediacy in 140 characters at a time (Milstein and Lorica,
2008) seldom seen in other online learning situations:

interest in life-long learning; motivations and flexibility in developing their own educational
and vocational route

respect and confidence in themselves and others

facilitate mutual awareness; responsiveness to the emotions of others

136

valuing interpersonal relations - to learn how to take turns in speaking

the course turned into an interface to own experiences - developing the skills to meet the
demands of social life in general

analysis of real needs and problems (examples: How do I ...? Does anyone know if ..? etc.)
and building polls (which are Ciriposphere verbs - the metaphors of microblogging).

During the course the participants developed the public part of their microblogs: writing public
messages, following and discussing with other users, validating the topics of the course, monitoring
feeds, and being part in other groups. After the course ended, they continue to activate on the
platform, communicating and collaborating with facilitators and other participants. This is an
important advantage of this platform, the learning community continues to be active after the course
ended.
The course has also allowed:

a wide variety of expression forms (voice, video, images etc.) using mashup tools
already tested in education, for communicating personal and didactical experience; we
could note that the participants contributed with audio/video messages only after the
learning community was consolidated

the application of effective and flexible techniques in using microblogging in education

reversibility of messages

to build a set of best practices

promoting personal blogs

export microblogs notes on the blogs

"ambassadors" of ideas / concepts / events

humor, good mood.

There were also:

moments of inertia (see group timeline for messages distribution in time)

certain technical constraints (do not forget that it is a platform in continuous

development and improvement), messages without dissipation

unequal contributions from participants

a certain degree of pollution or noise information.

For us microblogging, and especially Cirip.eu, proved to be an effective tool for professional
development and for collaboration with students, that can change the rules of the courses and
models good pedagogy responsive to student's learning needs. Furthermore, as a social networking /
microblogging platform, Cirip.eu provides valuable interactions in educational context, acting as a
social factor in a course management system (Katz, 2008).
We appreciate that the microblogging platform Cirip.eu has facilities which permit to deliver
successful and quality online courses; the communication, authoring, monitoring, statistical
facilities make Cirip.eu a modern free LMS; it integrates many web2.0 technologies, and also
allows participants to develop their PLEs/PLNs.
To facilitate an entire online course or a part of a course on such a platform requires specific
facilitation skills, and collaborative technologies knowledge. The effort and time needed are more
important than those for an online course hosted on a classic LMS.
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9.2.5. Aspects related to course facilitation

According to R. Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction, proper teaching sequences should be
followed in order to achieve the learning objectives. Table 9.2.1 contains a model with micro-based
training events used in the courses facilitated on Cirip, and concrete examples of activities
corresponding to each event of instruction and digital strategy can be found by those interested in a
spicynodes mindmap (Figure 9.2.5).
Table 9.2.1. Anatomy of a microblogging course
Event of instruction
Gain attention

Digital strategy
It is essential to raise students interest and curiosity from the
beginning. This can be achieved through audio, video, news,
animations, questions etc. that will help us understand how
students express their (learning) needs (Efron and Winget,
2010).
Inform learners of objectives,
Students should be informed about the objectives,
expectations
expectations, activities, about what they will learn and how
to get involved in the Announcements and Materials section,
by using multimedia content.
Stimulate recall of prior learning Before starting the course, students are required to complete
an assessment of their knowledge (questions or an activity to
engage existing knowledge). At the end of the course they
are asked the same assessment again, which shall be
compared with the one at the beginning.
Present stimulus material
Interactive materials with a variety of (social/Web 2.0)
media.
Provide learning guidance
Elaborate on presented content by telling (collaborative)
digital stories (in 140 characters), explaining examples and
non-examples, offering analogies (Gable, 2010)
Elicit performance (practice
Obtaining performance is an important step. The teacher
students skills and knowledge)
must find questions based on course objectives and present
them as interactive exercises. Asking questions is an
important strategy for generating social interaction via
microblogs (Efron and Winget, 2010).
Provide feedback
Students should be given the correct answers and, if
possible, a brief explanation to help them shape their
behavior to order to improve performance.
Assess performance (test
Results can be identified in the profile/e-portfolio of students
students)
who develop such initiatives, become self-motivated,
flexible, innovative, and realistic, who perform tasks and
solve problems, accept the complexity of life, respect the
diversity of perspectives and viewpoints, and cultivate selfcontrol and desire for lifelong learning.
Enhance retention and transfer
Learning content management in university for various
programs of study. It provides the means to create and re-use
e-content and reduce duplicate development efforts.

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Figure 9.2.10. Anatomy of a microblogging course as a mindmap, source cirip.ro/status/9312507

What we have noticed is that the prevailing learning style was the practical one, through
active experiment (learning by doing style). The fact that learning units were created through
Web2.0 technologies and subsequently encapsulated as multimedia objects both in Announcements
and as messages posted in the group, the major advantage being that experience was gained through
participative methods and practical validations, students themselves testing the new technologies
presented.
Cirip acts both as a microblogging platform and a social network, that engages participatory
experiences, collective learning, transforms the traditional / blended course learning space in a
dynamic, user-centered environment. The student is seen as a participant in the act of learning in a
framework with a social structure. For instance, participation in collaborative activities and
interactions with other members of the platform are factors that help learning, which becomes a
product of participation and collaboration. Figure 9.2.11 illustrates a synoptic vision of the various
elements used to assist the learning process of the educable in the social environment of Cirip.
By the end of the course students should know and use social media features in one context
or another. We particularly hope that by the end of a course held on a microblogging platform
ubiquity of tools, services, Web2.0 applications will have a profound impact on lifelong learning,
allowing for the establishment of true learning networks and the construction of social PLN. These
are networks of people and organizations that create, support and use learning resources.
We see this study as a possible solution for developing integrated educational systems based on
microblogging, covering both components, learning and evaluation, as an alternative to the
institutionally hosted and supported virtual learning environments, having a user generated, activity
focus that supports teaching and learning in educational settings. However, we aim at dealing with
the various issues raised during the teaching-learning-evaluation process, as follows:
- A preliminary initiation of students is required (and sometimes of the teachers who have to
co-ordinate the platform) some dont know or fail to implement this technology correctly,
while others wont adapt to the new requirements (responsibilization of the teachers).

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Eliminate the effects of incertitude, as in the case of any innovation or change. One of the
difficulties is the hierarchisation of knowledge (the difficulty finding and choosing the
relevant resources to post, to turn information into knowledge).
Develop a student-centered qualitative model (quality characteristics, measurement
indicators, evaluation criteria).
Elaborate recommendations for applying this technology in higher education environments.

Figure 9.2.11. Elements of constructing social learning environments on Cirip

9.3. Learning from the Stream

Even at first glance there seems to be only a linguistic connection between microblogging
and m(y)-conference/m(y)-event, the recent literature registered an upward curve in the number of
papers that analyse the usage of microblogging as a community event tool. While the vast majority
of studies are investigating the use of the most popular microblogging application Twitter for group
communication, the impact on group participants, quantitative analysis of message types, and
motivational aspects, there are few research and case studies that address the use of microblogging
for learning from informal conversational flow (learning from the stream). In this context, this study
aims to examine: "How the micro-connection to a specific event can enhance the learning
experience of students enrolled in formal university courses?"
9.3.1. Microblogging as a backchannel solution
Even at a first glance there seems to be only a linguistic connection between microblogging
and conferences / events, the recent literature registered an increased number of papers that analyse
the usage of microblogging as a community event tool. The usage may fall in one of the following
categories:
140

information interfaces (Sutton, 2010; Kwak et al, 2010; Mendoza et al, 2010)
communication before, during and after the event (Balcom, 2007; Reinhardt et al, 2009;
Ebner and Reinhardt, 2009; Ebner et al, 2010) between participants, organizers, presenters
and audience
- monitoring the event for non-participants (reporting / online coverage the event) (Ebner et
al, 2010; Saunders et al, 2009)
- presentation (Mitchell, 2009)
- collaborative keynotes (Hart, 2010)
- participation / engaging audience (Atkinson, 2009; Harry et al, 2009)
- live-blogging session / instant discussions (Ebner and Reinhardt, 2009)
- live annotations of a broadcast media event (Shamma et al, 2009)
- official / quasi-official / unofficial back-channel (Ebner and Reinhardt, 2009)
- persistent / mobile / mobilizing backchannel (McNely, 2009)
- messages transcription / twitter subtitling (Du et al, 2010)
- back-chatting (Yardi, 2006/2008; Osmond, 2009), and even
- for evaluation (Ebner et al., 2010; Shamma et al, 2010),
and may also belong to a variety of settings: professional, academical / educational, scientifical, or
for specific organisational purposes (McNely, 2009; Letierce et al, 2010).
These events use different digital / social media technologies / applications / platforms and
several formats (e.g., (un) keynotes, multi / poster sessions, workshops, roundtable discussions,
social events, etc.). Usually the participants use hashtags for the events / topics findability across
different social platforms.
While the vast majority of studies are investigating the use of Twitter for group
communication, the impact on group participants, quantitative analysis of message types, and
motivational aspects, there are few research and case studies that address the use of microblogging
for learning from informal conversational flow.
In this context, this study aims to examine: "How the micro-connection to a specific event can
enhance the learning experience of students enrolled in formal university courses?" We will answer
this question by exploring the integration of the "PLE Conference 2010" information flow into the
microblogging platform cirip.eu.
9.3.2. Framework
In the 2nd semester of the academic year 2009-2010, the two facilitators have run the
following courses in private groups: "Computer Assisted Instruction" with freshmen of the
Pedagogy Department of West University of Timisoara, respectively "Multimedia" with college
juniors of University "Ioan Slavici" and "New Educational Technologies", a continuous training
course for teachers at University Politehnica Timisoara.
Social Learning and Personal Learning Environments (PLE) were common topics of the
three courses curriculum, and related materials were presented in the courses groups. Also, six
students, divided in two working teams, taking part in the "Multimedia" course, had to develop
collaborative projects related to PLE.
During the semester the first PLE Conference was planned out, and eventually took place in
Barcelona during the month of July. The facilitators decided to use in their courses, for
documentation and research the conference-related content and informal interactions on different
social networks.

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Figure 9.3.1. The first message in the PLE group, source: http://cirip.ro/status/2180463
On January 8th, 2010, when the first call of papers for the PLE Conference
(http://pleconference.citilab.eu) was launched, the PLE / PLE Conference in Barcelona group was
open on Cirip.eu (Figure 9.3.1), at http://cirip.ro/grup/plebcn and will remain active until the last
echo of this event will fade away.
The members of this group are students, and also teachers, practitioners in education, trainers, and
other persons interested in the PLE domain (Figure 9.3.2).
The aims of the group were:
to be a source of real-time information, connections with practitioners worldwide
to constitute a framework for learning / communication / sharing in the PLE domain for the
students in our courses, but also for other members interested in this domain
to offer an environment for strengthening knowledge in this domain and new PLE related
experiments
to offer access to all the group content, visualizations and statistics for future reflections and
studies.
9.3.3. Content for student activities
The group messages consist of:
tweets referring to the PLE Conference, imported using the Twitter search API (the searched
terms are PLE_BCN OR "PLE Barcelona" OR "PLE Conference" OR
pleconference.citilab.eu),
blogs posts which mention the conference, found using the Twingly search engine API, by
searching PLE Conference Barcelona
multimedia notes sent by the cirip members who joined this group (Figure 9.3.4).
This way the group is a backchannel of the PLE Conference and its messages reflect the
interaction/debate on cirip.eu and in a worldwide community concerning PLE and conference.
The actual number of messages on twitter and blogs could be higher than the ones imported, the
difference could be explained by Twitter and Twingly APIs limitations, but also by the specificated
search terms.

Figure 9.3.2. Group statistics and Feeds related to PLE

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The content of the group and its information flow on PLE were enlarged with:
specific requirements for students' activities and materials related to PLE posted by the
facilitators in the group Announcements section;
feeds/search feeds on PLE topic monitored by the group members using the platform
corresponding facility; they are delicious.com feeds with ple, pln, ple_bcn tags, also the feed
corresponding to the collection built by the group members, using the ple_cirip tag (Figure
9.3.2).
9.3.4. Students' activities
Students' activities related to documentation and collaborative projects were organized in
five stages and were hosted online by the PLE group, and by the private spaces of the two working
teams; a few activities were also discussed face-to-face (f2f) in the laboratories. In completing their
tasks, the students used the advanced facilities of cirip.eu.
Because the semester ended prior to when the conference was held, participation in the PLE
group during and after the conference was an optional activity, performed especially by students
interested in the fields of PLE and social learning for diploma thesis. Thus, once again, it was
proved on cirip.eu that learning communities continue their collaboration after the course ends.
Students' activities were grouped in five stages ((M) are specific activities for Multimedia
course):
a. preliminary documentation online and f2f
preliminary documentation related to PLE and task understanding - information published
by the facilitators in the News section of the PLE group
familiarisation with the PLE group, understanding the stream integration
open private groups for the two working teams (M);
b. documentation and interactions in the PLE group - online
follow group messages (online or by SMS), identify key experts, main discussion topics,
types of messages and resources - for these activities the group sections Messages,
Members, TagCloud, but also statistics and search facilities came in useful (Figure 9.3.3)
commenting interesting posts and resources
send (multimedia) messaging containing new resources
interact with colleagues, facilitators, other group members
track specific feeds described above - online or by SMS
participate in a survey related to possible definitions of PLE (M) - online or SMS reply
each team has closely followed two key actors, identifying their work, entering virtually in
their "research laboratories" (M);
c. collaborative work online and f2f (M)
comment a video related to PLE by sending messages in the two teams' groups; the
messages were exported as a .srt file by the specific facility of cirip.eu, and used to subtitle
the video published on dotsub.com
final projects published as collaborative Google docs, embedded in messages; the projects
evaluated a few multimedia resources, and the work of the followed experts;
d. activities evaluation online and f2f
conclusions related to the value of the PLE resources discovered
discussions on how students' own PLEs were developed and enlarged during the interaction
with the stream;
e. optional activities - online
interactions and documentation during and after the conference.
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Figure 9.3.3. Group Tagcloud and search facility

Figure 9.3.4. Message sent by a student, embedding a slideshare presentation

By using the cirip.eu platform, we proposed and facilitated a new and challenging form of
social learning, a new dimension of openness: learning from the stream, integrating a conference
stream conference in higher education courses. The aim of our study was to make a preliminary
evaluation, our findings can only lay the foundation for the elaboration of further and more
thorough research. However, our explorative study leaded to several positive results.
Students taking part in different courses from three different universities have interacted
with the stream, having common activities; thus this experiment is an affirmative answer to the
question "their tweets can reach other communities, in addition to their own?" (Letierce et al,
2009).
Stream integration in the PLE group allowed an uniform interaction, with the same
communication mechanisms used by the students in the course group. Continuous facilitation and
communication with our students were needed because we could not estimate a priori the
development of the ongoing stream volume, dynamics, and content.
Our students appreciated that learning from the stream proved to be a novel and efficient
method for documentation and research on PLE, meaning an openness to real-time and valuable
content, resources, and also an opportunity to follow experts and practitioners, being an illustration
of open and social learning.
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The scenario of learning from the stream was presented as a mindmap in the learning design
group (Holotescu and Grosseck, 2010); the discussions with teachers, students, practitioners
revealed other educational contexts in which such stream integration can be achieved, but also
alternative and additional applications that can be used for integration.
The archived content and interactions, statistical data, and visualisations, limited here by
the paper length, can be accessed at http://cirip.ro/grup/plebcn, and used in future courses,
documentation, and studies. Therefore, the group can be considered not only a time capsule of the
worldwide practitioners' interaction concerning PLE and the PLE Conference, but also a learning
experience, important in PLE documentation. Moreover, we can speak about a learning
serendipity, which may provide substance for further research projects.

9.4. Integrating MOOCs in Blended Courses

9.4.1. Blended Learning and MOOCs
Recent studies appreciate that MOOCs "bring an impetus of reform, research and innovation
to the Academy" (Hagard, 2013) and that the phenomena of MOOCs is part of the wider context of
open education, online learning, globalisation of education and constrained budgets (Yuan and
Powell, 2013). Even though MOOCs are usually developed and delivered as independent online
courses, experiments to wrap formal university courses around existing MOOCs are reported by
teachers and researchers in different articles (Bruff et al. 2013; Bruff, 2012; Caufield et al., 2013;
Koller, 2012). MOOCs offer teachers, researchers and practitioners the opportunity to experiment,
to study different possibilities for using their elements in campus settings as a form of flipped
classroom or blended learning approach (Hill, 2012).
Anant Agarwal, president of edX, considers that the blended learning model can be achieved
by mixing the MOOC technology with traditional/in-person class, this way transforming,
democratizing and improving education. Taking MOOCs in the large and applying them in the
small can create a blended model of education to really reinvent and reimagine what we do in the
classroom (Agarwal, 2013). He appreciates that in the summer of 2013, around 100 blended courses
that were running around the world were hosted on the edX platform (Walters, 2014), leading to
their labelling as the next-generation textbooks (Agarwal, 2013) or super-textbooks (Bruff,
2012).
On the other hand, Daphne Koller, one of the Coursera founders, was an early Stanford
promoter of the flipped classroom paradigm that mixes video-based instruction and automated
assessment, accessible in a MOOC space and assuring self-pace learning and interaction with the
material, with interactive face-to-face activities: teacher support for deeper understanding of the
topics, group projects and problem based learning (Koller, 2012).
MOOCs can also be seen as pools, resources for distributed flip, a term coined by Caufield
and Collier, meaning that content curation, sequencing and community are distributed (Caufield,
2013a). Noticing that technology allows us to move more activities out of the classroom than it was
possible previously, Caufield (2013b) speaks about the distributed flip, as a way of approaching
flipped classroom design, in which some amount of design of flip materials is done centrally by a
group of people, either as a company, consortium, or loose network of individuals. Then the
resulted high quality materials will be used by distributed facilitators / teachers, who will
personalize them by considering the particularities of their flipped classrooms. In most cases
teachers use parts of MOOCs in their courses just as collections of digital resources, not
synchronizing their students activities with the cohort activities in the central MOOC (discussions,
assignments), so the social features of MOOC are not used.
In Table 9.4.1 we propose a systematic view of different possibilities for blending MOOC in
courses, one dimension being the synchronicity between the MOOC and the course, and the other
the portion / numbers of MOOC to be integrated.
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Table 9.4.1. Variants of blending MOOCs in university courses

No
synchronization
Synchronization
between the
blended course
and MOOC(s)
Synchronization

MOOC(s) integrated in the blended course

Part of a
An entire
Multiple
MOOC
MOOC
MOOCs
The content (some modules) of a number of MOOCs
are used just as (additional) digital resources.
Students study the MOOCs content, but the
assignments, discussions and evaluations are parts of
the blended course.
In the MOOCs space, students study the materials
and also participate effectively in social activities:
assignment solving, forum discussions, peerassessment; class teacher supports them with
feedback, additional materials and resources,
evaluation; communication also with the local
learning community for deepening the topics and
group projects.

Of course the most complex (and efficient) blended courses are those corresponding to the
synchronization perspective, in which students study (part of) the content of a number of MOOCs
and also participate in their social activities (assignments, discussions, peer evaluation), the task of
the teacher being to synchronize the activities of his or her own course with those of (multiple)
MOOCs, proving support, feedback, additional resources, moderating and nurturing the local
learning community.
For freshmen and students who have not yet developed self-study skills maybe more support
from class teacher and colleagues is needed, so the unsynchronized approach could be more
suitable.
9.4.2. Methodology
This case study describes a new approach, in which the participation of students in different
MOOCs was integrated in a blended course run on Cirip.eu, in a dedicated private group (Figure
9.4.1).
The subjects of MOOCs delivered on specific hosting platforms and having particular
characteristics were connected with the Fall 2013 undergraduate course of Web Programming, at
University Politehnica Timisoara, we have facilitated.
The topics of this course consisted of a wide range of subjects, covering both the technical
and social part of Web2.0:
HTML/HTML5, Javascript, CSS, XML, Perl, PHP, MySQL, Ajax;
Web2.0/Social Media (blogging, microblogging, social networks, collaborative
applications, curation/collaborative bookmarking systems, RSS feeds, mash-ups), Open
Educational Resources and Creative Commons licenses, Massive Open Online Courses.
The valuable face-to-face class time was devoted to discussions for a deeper understanding
of the subjects, also for exercises and feedback on assignments.
The online space of the course was a private group of Cirip.eu, hosting the materials,
resources and interactions (as multimedia notes) between teacher and students
(http://cirip.ro/grup/progweb13). Students could access and study the materials, OERs and
additional resources any time they needed them. Messages posted online, via mobile devices or by
SMS in the group space assured a live interaction between peers and teacher, being the basis of the
local learning community: to ask questions, to comment new resources, to submit the multimedia
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results of different assignments and projects.

During the course, each student could also build a Personal Learning Environment,
monitoring different feeds, interacting with external users or practitioners, or being connected to
other Social Media platforms which gather educational resources.
9.4.3. Research goals
During the first part of the term, the topic of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) was
discussed, together with their challenges and benefits for education. By that moment students have
already chosen the theme of the group project and they have split in working groups.
Counting towards 10% of the activity in the blended course they have to select a MOOC and
to effectively participate in at least 10% of the massive course activities.

Figure 9.4.1. Course group on Cirip: members, number of messages and the tags used for activities
The aims of integrating MOOCs in this university course are listed below:
Allow students to become familiar (aware) with the MOOC phenomenon and trends:
o To learn about the most important players/platforms/offers, types of learning,
interaction and specific pedagogies
o To be able to search and evaluate useful and quality MOOCs;
To enlarge knowledge/topics of the course, to obtain an auxiliary support for students
group project development;
Allow students to have concrete views, opinions and proposals on MOOCs and to
critically evaluate their usefulness for personal development and for different ways of
integration in formal higher education courses.
9.4.4. Research methods
In order to achieve these aims, we followed the next steps for MOOCs integration:
1. MOOCs discovery and selection:
In the first part of the course, in the materials section of the Cirip group, the course tutor
has provided a material and resources presenting the Massive Open Online Courses
phenomenon, as well as MOOC directories / platforms:
o http://openeducationeuropa.eu
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o http://mooc-list.com
o https://futurelearn.com
o https://class-central.com.
Students were invited:
o To post a message with the tag #mooc containing the names and links of 1-2
MOOCs connected with the course topics, in which they would like to participate
(mandatory activity);
o To comment / provide new resources on MOOCs (optional activity).
Students could discover new courses and find / comment on the opinions of their
colleagues.
Teachers feedback in case the MOOCs proposed by the students were not connected
with the course topics.
A tagcloud with the names of the courses proposed, then followed by the students was
published in the course space.

2. Participation in MOOCs:
During the term, students took part in at least 10% of the activities of a MOOC
(requirement).
Messages with impressions resulted from participation were posted in the course space
(optional).
Moreover some of the students discussed or asked opinions on their concrete activities in
MOOCs, receiving feedback from the local learning community (both colleagues and
teacher).
As part of the assessment, each student had to present to the teacher the portfolio of the
activities carried out on the MOOC platform.
9.4.5. Summary of data evaluating MOOC participation
Before the Web Programming course ended, students took part in a survey evaluating their
experiences related to the MOOCs. 55 of the 70 students enrolled in the course responded (78%).
Overall, it was a dense course with a high interaction, there were 630 (multimedia) messages
sent in the course space, which means that each participant sent a number of 9 notes (Figure 9.4.1).
A summary of findings is presented in the following:
Percentage of students who knew about the MOOCs phenomenon before this course:
around half of the students (49%) (Figure 9.4.2.a).
Followed at least a MOOC before the course: less than a third of the students (29%)
(Figure 9.4.2.b).
Will follow other MOOCs: 100%. All students plan to follow new MOOCs, thus
recognizing the importance of enlarging their knowledge during formal education, but
also of continuing education (Figure 9.4.2.c).
Even if a participation in 10% of the MOOC activities was required, two thirds of the
students (66%) have realized more than half of the assignments, while a quarter (24%)
completed the whole massive course (Figure 9.4.2.d); the completion rate (24%) is much
higher than the average value of 10% for most MOOCs, as reported by current studies
(Haggard, 2013).
Almost half of the students participated in MOOCs hosted by Coursera (44%), nearly a
quarter on Udemy (23%), the rest have chosen Udacity, edX, Khan Academy,
Codecademy, FutureLearn, but also European MOOCs found on the Open Education
Europa portal.
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Most of the MOOCs were in English and a small number in French. However, several
students have participated in the collaborative translation of materials in Romanian,
where possible.
Some of the students reported that they have followed a few MOOCs in parallel for
supporting other disciplines of the Fall term (for a few courses, their activities in
MOOCs were formally recognized by other teachers) or just for self/individual study.
Suggestions for improvement of the Web Programming course: in general, students
opinions about the course were very positive, they appreciated the multimedia materials,
high interactivity, collaborative activities, mobile access, openness to Social Media
platforms, OERs and MOOCs; most proposals were for increasing the number of
tutorials in video format.

(a)

(b)

(c)
(d)
Figure 9.4.2. Distribution of students: who knew about MOOCs before the course (a), followed
MOOCs before the course (b), will follow MOOCs after the course (c);
Percentages of activities completed in MOOCs (d)
9.4.6. Discussions
In the open comments section of the survey asking for opinions about ways to improve the
involvement / participation in MOOCs, some students reported the need for a direct communication
and feedback from MOOC facilitators, not only from peers. This demonstrates the need for direct
communication with facilitators for learning motivation and personalization. A solution is the
interaction, both f2f and online, with the course tutor / local facilitator / teacher, as an important
component of the blended model. Others suggested that the transcript or at least the abstract of each
video material should be published (the same as for videos published on TED.com or dotsub.com).
This feature would assure the possibility to search and to focus on specific topics presented in the
video clips.
Before this blended course half of the students were not familiar with this new opportunity
for education, while all students reported that they have decided to attend new MOOCs. So, the aim
of integrating MOOCs in order to sensitize students to the MOOC movement was fully
accomplished.
Table 9.4.2 summarizes the activities realized by students in the blended course and for each
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activity the pedagogical benefits are underlined (Agarwal, 2013; Burdett, 2003; Glance et al., 2013).
The specific tags used to report the results of different activities as multimedia messages in the
course group are also listed (Figure 9.4.1).
Table 9.4.2. Blended course activities and pedagogical benefits

Face-toface
activities

Activities in the blended course

Discussions for deeper understanding
of the course topics/requirements
Feedback on assignments
Follow multimedia course materials
posted in the group space

Pedagogical benefits
Learner-centric teaching
Self-paced study for different
learning styles, enhanced focus
and attention

Discussions/evaluation of OER
projects/initiatives and CC licenses
(#oer)
Openness to/culture of knowledgeDiscussions/evaluation of free tools /
sharing and re-use, exploitation of
Online
collaborative platforms for learning
the OER movement benefits,
activities
(#mytools)
critical thinking
on Cirip
Post collaborative work results on SM
group
platforms as littler OERs (#project)
Posting multimedia notes with
Collaboration in local learning
comments, feedback, new resources for
community, peer assistance
course topics
Post evaluation of additional resources,
follow/interact with external
PLE building
users/practitioners, monitor RSS feeds
Skills for collaborative work:
challenge assumptions, delegate
Group
roles and responsibilities, share
Group project (#project)
work
diverse perspectives, find effective
peers to emulate, collaborative
tools usage
Study MOOC materials (short videos,
podcasts, presentations) and answer to
Self-paced/active learning
corresponding quizzes
Solve assessments
Retrieval learning, gamification
Peer-assessment, assuming
Evaluation of peer assignments
MOOC
objectivity and responsibility
Discussions / feedback in MOOC
Participation in global learning
forums
communities, instant feedback
Skills for continuing and for
MOOC selection (#mooc)
learning autonomy, selfassessment of learning objectives
This case study is a new scenario proposal for open educational practices, bringing new
perspectives for integrating MOOCs in blended courses/flipped classrooms. Students have had a
high autonomy in assessing their own learning needs for choosing the MOOCs in which to
participate in order to deepen the course topics, but also to find useful information for group project
development.
The integration of MOOCs exposes students to high quality materials created with top
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educational technologies, to collaboration in global learning communities and to a broader range of

experiences than those to which they otherwise might have access.
New skills and tasks are required for teachers facilitating blended courses integrating
MOOCs: complex course design and management, OERs and MOOCs curation, evaluation of
distributed and collaborative activities of students, facilitation of the local learning community and
nurture of its integration in the global communities of MOOCs and many more. All of these could
be accomplished only if teachers adopt a new and open attitude towards the teaching-learning
process, have the will to test and to learn new things together with their students, wanting to oppose
uniformity and self-sufficiency.
MOOCs offer challenging opportunities to teachers themselves for improving their
knowledge in their own area of expertise and for improving their competencies and skills for
adopting new models of open educational practices. We consider faculty members should attend
MOOCs too on topics they themselves teach and also on topics related to new educational
technologies and pedagogies. Under these circumstances, each teacher could become a long-life
learning and informed learner.
The blended learning model with MOOCs integration in which local learning communities
are involved bring new pedagogical models, make xMOOCs more close to cMOOCs, add the
connectivism and constructivism dimensions and values to the learning process.
Even if students dont effectively participate in a MOOC, the teacher / facilitator could
present a list of MOOCs connected with the course topic, to make students familiar with this
opportunity for high quality and continuing learning. This is a practice already used by the author,
who have introduced a discussion on MOOCs in each facilitated course or in the teachers training
(for example the Didatec project).
For this particular course, with a wide area of topics, wrapping around a single MOOC
would have been difficult. Based on the experience gained in this blended course, on the feedback
received from students and the serious research related to blended learning with MOOCs, we will
plan a more complex scenario for the next run of the course.

9.5. Teacher Training

With the emergence / increased use of Web 2.0 tools in education (Selwyn, 2009), a large
number of institutions are embracing the opportunities offered by social media. However, although
a whole literature and projects around virtual learning environments for formal education are being
created, a relatively small number of studies and researches refer to teachers continuous training
both in formal and informal settings. In this context our paper focuses on an approach based on
microblogging, as a result of an exploratory study carried out over the last five years, to support the
efforts towards teachers training and their continuous pedagogical professionalization.
9.5.1. Phases of teacher training
The practical part of this study focused on a question raised very often but almost never
clarified: whether and how microblogging succeeds to be a quality factor in teachers education.
The social media application cirip.eu was chosen because it acts as a social network, as a multimedia
microblogging platform, but also as a social learning environment. It is a dynamic, user-centred
environment (see Figure 9.5.1) that engages participatory experiences, collective learning,
transforming the traditional, blended learning space in many ways:

Learning and Training. In the last five years, formal and informal courses and trainings
(hosted in private groups) for teachers and trainers in schools and / or universities were
organized by different institutions or during European educational projects. Courses and
trainings held in the last two years on the cirip.eu platform (like cursmb, iac09, iac10,
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wetentm etc.) have new educational technologies and social learning as central topics. The
statistics, timelines, network sections and different visualizations of these groups proved a
high interest and involvement of teachers (see Figure 9.5.1).
Practicing. Usually the interaction in the groups and on the platform continued after the
courses/trainings ended, the members continued to learn and to practise the knowledge
gained during the courses, the continuous activity being illustrated by the timelines of the
microblogs. The learning community built in each group was enlarged with cirip members
such as students, trainers, teachers, and specialists, becoming a real community of practice.
Almost all of the teachers who participated in formal trainings built their own Personal
Learning Environment / Network (PLE/PLN) on cirip, which included:
o Connection / communication / sharing ideas and resources with the users they
followed.
o Groups for national and international conferences, workshops, events, project
management.
o Sites / blogs / networks feeds and search feeds.
o Social networks providing educational objects / OERs (Open Educational
Resources), which can be included in messages etc.
Meta-learning. In the special group on the platform dedicated to learning designs (The
Learning Scenarios group - lds), the teachers discuss, validate and improve the scenarios of
learning activities and courses they develop, formalizing them as mindmaps embedded in
cirip notes. Another advantage is that they can also find peers for peer-mentoring their
courses.

9.5.2. SWOT analysis for teachers education

In order to shed light on the research question, we conducted a SWOT analysis of using the
cirip latform for teachers education, to ascertain their key competences and abilities of using it for
personal / professional development.
Strengths

Flexibility of the platform access to public or private groups through a variety of devices
and applications, by anyone with a cirip or Twitter account.
Usability in terms of third party applications (ciripAPI, widgets/gadgets, export/import);
aggregation of additional resources through RSS feeds/Twingly search engine (like blogs,
social bookmarking systems such as delicious, social networking sites); tagging; searching;
embedding multimedia objects; polling; visualizations; statistics etc.
Openness to OERs - multimedia objects from social networks around OERs, embedded in
messages, become part of the conversation/communication flow of the platform, and of the
members' microblogs/portfolios. Such objects can be retrieved for documentation, but also
can be created collaboratively by members. Let's note that microblogs, discussions on
different topics, groups, so different streams themselves become open educational resources.
Mobile functionality through SMS or m.cirip.ro - enable ambient research practices
(McNely, 2009).
Breaking the ephemeral nature of conversational stream (McNely, 2009) on cirip all
messages are archived, and can be retrieved via browsing or searching.
Real time access to knowledge flexible / extensible time schedule for individual study.
Raising awareness of a particular topic - using tagging or resending mechanisms, but also
creating groups on specific topics.
Mobilization through a facile access to other members PLE/PLN. cirip allows asymmetric
social relationships.
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Serendipitous learning - building knowledge spontaneously (Reinhardt et al., 2009).

Collective learning and creating learning relationships. One can use cirip as a laminated
discursive space (McNeill, 2009) to extend his/her social graph towards development of
communities of practice and learning.
Professional networking (McNeill, 2009).
Encouraging participation (event the shy persons can be part of it).
Teachers act like social reporters. Using a RSS feed they do not have to log in to cirip to
receive updates, to aggregate conference proceedings etc. (Ross et al., 2010).
Support collaborative research / projects run with students or others members.

Figure 9.5.1 Learning contexts on the microblogging platform cirip.eu

Weakneses

A (more) user-friendly interface when posting multimedia objects like presentations from
slideshare, documents from scribd, music from deezer or blip.fm etc.
Poor infrastructure not all teachers have a broadband Internet connection (e.g. to engage in
live-streaming can be sometimes difficult).
Time costs sometimes it takes too long to follow the informational stream.
Fatigue occurs following a rich information flow.
Informational expansion. Using the microblogging platform as a crowdsourcing tool can
lead to a difficulty in making sense of the many conversations taking place simultaneously
as relevant, useful, important or rich in content.
A voluminous stream. Sometimes the teacher has to filter the flow in order to separate
(properly) the noise from the real content (and to highlight the important notes according to
his/her needs for learning).
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Multiplication of communication for example if we supplement a recommended reading

list with stream items during a training course, this can lead to a spread in too many
directions.
Simple syntax of messages: there arent direct messages on cirip like on Twitter; nor can one
mark as favourite a message/ a note this operation is possible only in private groups.
The lack of a critical mass participation sometimes the curiosity is missing or there is a
low interaction.

Opportunities

Learn to Read Social Media stream (Couros, 2010). Microblogging is an alternative in

learning from specific events (like conferences, workshops, symposia etc.), which could
lead to informal learning.
Engaging in active (and collaborative) learning; contribution to group learning; culture of
community (Dunlop and Lowenthal, 2009).
Enhancing creativity: teachers generating contents (audio, video, digital stories).
Development for a new socio-literate practice enabled / facilitated by the microblogging
technology: time and attention economy to find authentic resources on topics.
Social story community. Documentation through messages in 140 characters can improve
teachers knowledge / content production.
Augmenting social learning. The stream isnt just a social space governed by social
conventions (Cogdill, 2001) but also a space for collaborative note-taking and shared
learning experiences (Chang et al., 2010).
Connecting teachers PLEs stimulates curiosity, which enhances learning. Teachers share
information with / from others specialists / practitioners microblogs. Furthermore, they can
create informal networks with peers inside and outside of their personal networks.
Could foster a form of peer-to-peer learning and mentoring (McNely, 2009): asking,
following ideas / responses, learning from others.
Scholarly resource (Serbanuta, Chao, Takazawa, 2010): gathering, archiving and making use
of user generated content (conversational / informational / emotional / self-expression flow).
Reliable source of news: citing cirip notes in projects and research papers (Dunlop and
Lowhental, 2009) as electronic academic references. The message archive thus becomes a
valuable resource for further studies.

As Threats we have identified: microblogging skepticism; time-sensitive contents; over

enthusiasm / excitement; over interpreting the relevance of this training method; and sometimes a
social peripheral behavior (bad language, sarcastic, critical / inappropriate comments in literature
the notion is snarkiness (snark=snide+remark). The practice of using microblogging can also lead to
track only (attendees) reactions and not topical discussions (Shamma, Kennedy, Churchill, 2010).
We also noted the technological stress - from the technical point of view some teachers could feel
uncomfortable with platform facilities and above all the risk to emphasize only the technology and
not the pedagogy.
As we have seen in the previous section, a teacher can participate in the cycle of
professional development starting with any of the learning contexts (Figure 9.4.1). We have also
noted that a number of teachers who have participated in formal trainings became mentors for other
teachers or organized courses on cirip, this way changing their roles from trainees to trainers /
facilitators. If Twitter and other microblogging platforms offer mainly the practice context, we
consider that cirip could provide the formal training and meta-learning contexts, because of its
special facilities. These facilities position it within the spectrum of educational services for an
efficient continuous education, training, learning and personal development of teachers.
However, we aim by all means at dealing with the various issues raised during the teachers
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learning evaluation process. First of all, a preliminary briefing of teachers is required some dont
know or fail to implement correctly this technology, while others wont adapt to the new
requirements of integrating social media in their professional development. Then it is suitable to
eliminate the effects of incertitude, as in the case of any innovation or change. Some of the
difficulties are to create hierarchies of knowledge, to find and choose the relevant resources to post,
and to elaborate recommendations for applying this technology in proper education environments.
And last but not least, it is necessary to develop a centered quality model in terms of
characteristics, measurement indicators and evaluation criteria.
We also hope that this research represents a starting point / invitation to future reflections
and studies for reviewing, expanding and validating the theoretical basis of using microblogging by
teachers. Thus, although we refer explicitly to cirip.eu, our remarks are also applicable to other
microblogging platforms / services (Twitter, Identi.ca, Plurk, Edmodo, Yammer etc). Think of it
this way: Microblogging is the way in which you choose to speak, while cirip.eu is the tool you use
to talk to the world. (apud Livingston, 2010).

9.6. Personal Learning Environment

Although since 2004, when the term Personal Learning Environment (PLE) was coined
(JISC, 2004; Wilson, 2005), a whole literature and projects around PLE and lately Personal
Learning Network (PLN) are being created, a relatively small number of studies and research
integrate the microblogging technology (Taraghi, Ebner, Till, and Muhlburger, 2009; BECTA, 2009;
McNeill, 2010; Elch, 2010).
We have noticed that specialized literature is continuously changing and overcrowded with
resources dedicated to PLE or to PLN in various contexts. Some of these are theoretical (Johnson
and Liber, 2008) and/or methodological proposals (Ivanova, 2009a; Ivanova, 2009b; Taraghi, Ebner
and Schaffert, 2009); others address new paradigms or filter the importance and place of each one
separately (Ivanova, 2010) or together (Skill, Carhart, Houton and Wheeler, 2010b). In some
papers, the two concepts are set/put in antagonism, in others they are (re)invented. Regardless of the
content, all these resources metamorphose in challenges addressed to e-learning specialists (Waters,
2008-2010) or practitioners (Hart, 2009). The intention is clear: we either give one up and promote
the other (The King is Dead, Long Live the King!), or we (re)consider new opportunities (Attwell,
2007), new solutions of using them together in education (Downes, 2010; Buchem, 2010; Attwell,
2010).
From the conceptual and technological point and view, we appreciate that two approaches
related to PLE implementation exist:
mashups by aggregation (Attwell, 2010; Ivanova, 2010, Taraghi, Ebner and Schaffert,
2009); these solutions seldom consolidate a public profile/portfolio;
integrated environment (Harmelen, Metcalfe, Randall, 2009); usually used during a
course or a specific learning project, they dont incorporate the previous PLE, dont have
the characteristics of continuity.
In this context this case study focuses on how the PLE can be built, modelled and
conceptualized on a microblogging platform, as a result of an exploratory study carried out on the
platform Cirip.eu, during the last seven years.
The work hypothesis:
How can a PLE be built, shaped and conceptualized on a microblogging platform?

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Figure 9.6.1. PLE on Cirip.eu (source http://www.Cirip.ro/status/1629920)

9.6.1. Three-Anagram's Approach to Cirip PLE Framework
On Cirip, we consider a microblog as a three-dimensional space: Environment, Learning
and Personal. Following the three dimensions clockwise brings us to the construction of a PLE in
three-anagram's approach:
a. LEP: Learning the Environment Properly
Cirip.eu integrates a wide range of Web2.0 tools and social networks organized around
educational resources. The integration of these applications is realized in order to make them
known, to organize and simplify their use, to encourage members (teachers, students and other
learners) to discover, to explore, and to practice them; we can say Cirip offers an opportunity
toward Open Educational Resources OERs. Sometimes the use of the Cirip platform implies a
prior instruction in order to obtain a real efficiency in exploiting all its facilities.
b. EPL: Empowering / Enhancement Professional Learning
In 2005 Jyri Engestrom, the co-developer of the Jaiku microblogging platform, launched a
theory stating that, in most cases, people base their relations on certain objects, which he named
social objects. These can be both physical, such as location, and semi-physical (such as
attention) or even conceptual, such as on-line presence. According to Engestrom objects
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become the centre of any social relation and the nucleus/fundamental notions of a (strong) social
network. Thus, it is important to use web 2.0 tools / social networking / educational resources not
only as personal web technologies (McElvaney, Berge, 2009) but as social objects as well.
c. PLE: Personalize onLine Experience
Cirip allows the creation of a personal profile / portfolio including ideas, projects, research,
information resources, multimedia objects created individually or collaboratively. All users
activities are developed in a dynamic manner and follow a continuous evaluation process by
communicating with members of the platform and/or within the groups he/she is part.
On Cirip each member can build not only a PLE, but also a PLN which can include:
connection / communication with the followed users;
the groups they participate in, according to the topics of interest;
the site/blog/network/search feeds;
the social networks providing educational objects which can be included in messages.
Thus Cirip.eu can be considered a social network of PLEs.

9.7. Conclusions
This chapter presents the usages of the platform in many formal and informal learning
contexts:
1. for Online Courses and Courses Enhancement in high schools and universities,
2. for Learning from the Stream,
3. for integrating MOOCs in Blended Courses,
4. for Teacher Training, and also
5. for developing Personal Learning Environments.
Each case study presents the possibilities offered by other microblogging platforms for that
particular usage and also the advantages and drawbacks of Cirip. All these case studies are part of
the third DBR phase, aiming at testing and refinement of the platform, also at reflecting and
innovating open pedagogies.
9.7.1. Contributions
Cirip is allowing the creation of a personal/public profile and/or portfolio including ideas,
projects, research, information resources, multimedia objects created individually or collaboratively.
Thus on Cirip each member to be able to build not only a Personal Learning Environment but also a
Personal Learning Network.
From this perspective and according to classifications of Stutzman (2009), Cross and Conole
(2009) and Engestrm (2009), Cirip is both a profile-centric and a social object-centric network :
6.

the objects are part of the communication-conversation flow of the platform;

7.

the objects connect Cirip with other Social Media applications organized around
educational objects;

8.

objects can be reused, validated, created or recreated individually or collaboratively, thus

Cirip offering the opens to Open Educational Resources OERs;

9.

meta-objects meaning objects of learning design - LD can be created; the objects of

learning design specify learning scenarios, best practices for integrating new technologies
(Cirip in particular) in education; Compendium scenarios can be imported to reach the
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experience of other communities of practice in LD;

10. by extension, public or private groups can be considered as social objects, functioning as
sLMSs (social Learning Management Systems).
The platform most interesting usages in education were exposed in this chapter,
representing pedagogical innovations:
1. for Online Courses and Courses Enhancement in high schools and universities,
2. for Learning from the Stream,
3. for integrating MOOCs in Blended Courses,
4. for Teacher Training, and also
5. for developing Personal Learning Environments.

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Chapter 10. Platform Evaluation

10.1. Introduction
Since the launch of Cirip in March 2008, the platform was continuously evaluated by
students and teachers who have used it during courses and for professional/personal development.
The feedback was obtained through:
messages sent by users to @cirip, the administrative account
specific surveys applied to different categories of users or to participants in different
courses/workshops.
The results of two surveys are presented in this chapter and they are part of the Design Based
Research (DBR) fourth phase (Figure 2.3). The conclusions drawn from the surveys have been
used for the platform refinement/improvement.

10.2. Study of Learning Impact

10.2.1. Research goals and methods
The generic purpose is that of analyzing the way in which didactical actions associate with the
microblogging technology used as a social LMS type of course platform:
context and digital resources: how the course content is presented, both through formal
Announcements section for accessing course modules developed by teacher, and through
multimedia objects embedded in messages (as littler OERs);
the teaching/learning methods used identifying the didactical directions suitable for the
courses run on microblogging platforms, such as: teaching by questions / discourse /
conversations, academic controversy, digital storytelling, micro-lectures, case studies,
collaborative projects, problem based learning, teaching by collaboration, learning from
events etc., by clear direct examples, within the courses developed both in a formal higher
education environment and an informal one (adult, continuous education);
students learning and study strategies: presenting typical learning activities and
methodological suggestions for these; identifying the personal learning styles developed by
students and analyzing them, etc.
evaluation of students: by using e-portfolios, personal learning environments, learning
diaries, but also their real experiences during courses (either in a blended or online course);
diagnosis of critical situations (identification of risks) when using the microblogging as a
study technology.
The research question (for the overall study) is: whether and how does microblogging succeed as an
efficient and flexible social LMS? And how the quality of the learning experience and learning
outcomes could be improved.
The examined population consists of students in several years and forms of study, covering a
variety of profiles and specializations from three universities (University Politehnica Timioara,
West University of Timioara and University "Ioan Slavici" Timioara), enrolled in formal courses
hosted in private, closed, blended-mannered groups on the Cirip platform, during the academic
years 2009-2011.
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Table 10.2.1. Courses demographics

Study level

Specialization

Gender

UnderGraduate

Master

Postgraduate

Social

Political

Technical

Other

129

27
171

15

54

57

48

12

122

49

171

171

Our research has two forms:

An online survey applied to students. The survey was made up of various types of questions
(open-ended ones included). We had to confine ourselves to essential questions, not only for
obtaining a good response rate, but also to save the time needed for filling out the
questionnaire (because it is known that long ones lead to students giving up the completion
or to superficiality from the respondent). It was delivered as an online form (created on
Google Drive) embedded in a group message and also in the Announcements section.
Students could answer either online or by mobile phone.
The analysis of the message corpus relating to the courses. The resulting archives were
analyzed by using quantitative and qualitative methods offered by the platform, such as
various statistics (the number of participants, the most active participants, the number of
links posted, the number of digital objects included in the notes, the time period, the method
/ device used / access etc.); tag clouds (in the course we used some specific hashtags to
identify topics of interests); visualizations etc.
In order to evaluate how students consume the course stream we have built a list of primary
impact elements in using the microblogging technology as social LMS:
Students attention and participation. How many students participate (online access through
web interface, mobile devices, 3rd party applications, Twitter or instant messaging). How
often and when/from where (during the course, in the morning/evening etc.)? How many
messages did they write (the frequency)? And which method do they use to post (CiripFox,
CiripApi etc.).
Content sharing: How many links, blog posts, photos, videos, audio clips, comments,
presentations, files etc. did the students share? How many RSS feeds did they follow? How
many public groups did the students participate in? Which is the taxonomy of the students
intentions? Did they use a specific tag? etc.
User-generated content created in a variety of formats: upload of students papers / other
own or collaboratively created presentations, digital stories-telling etc. (Luzn, 2009).
Dissemination of suggested class readings. Did students manage to identify the trending
topics? How many redistributed messages to others? And within what time interval? The
temporal dimension is often overlooked by teachers (Ross et al., 2010). Do they curate the
content course in a personal manner?
Exploring notes vocabulary. By using the platform facility for generating words clouds for
microblogs/groups to analyze the vocabulary of students notes posted in their academic
group, it is important to see the relevance to the course topics and leverage the results for a
better learning.
Peer-to-peer learning and mentoring enable students to expose their ideas to peers and
construct knowledge and understanding.
Mobilization among students - expanding students PLNs.
Formative assessment. In order to obtain the students feedback for identifying a number of
aspects regarding the use of microblogging in their learning experience, we used
Kirkpatricks e-learning evaluation model:
The first level Learner Reaction indicates the extent to which students liked the
160

course and its facilitation (How did they feel during the course?) Filling out the
questionnaire right after the course can offer important information on the relevance of
the objectives, the teachers ability to deliver the content and to maintain students
interest, the interactivity of exercises, the communication with the teacher, the value
perceived etc.
Learning Results measure the level of knowledge and skills / attitudes acquired by the
students throughout the course (Did students learn anything?) In order to quantify
these results, an assessment was proposed to students as a reflection game before and
after the courses (i.e. the #stiu tag, I know in English), the testing modality being
conceived within 140 characters. By analyzing the responses of all participants, the
impact of the teaching can be determined.
The third level Learning Behavior examines whether the students make use of the
new knowledge, both in future courses and in daily life (Do they apply what they
learnt? Did their behavior change?). A new approach should be idealistic, at least 3-6
months after the courses in order to allow for assessing their retention degree and for
empowerment evaluation.
Learning Results measure the impact on the educational process resulting from student
performances in a larger context (other universities, other courses, trainings at
different levels etc.).

10.2.2. Data analysis

A sample of 171 students resulted after validation. Because there are no significant differences
from the point of view of gender, specialization, study level between students from the three
universities, we shall not examine separately by the demographical characteristics in Table 10.2.1.
The most important findings are presented below.
Paradoxically, the most suspicious about the role of microblogging in educational activities are
not teachers, as we might have expected, but students (replies to the question Did I enjoy the
platform? with answers given on a 1 to 10 scale: 1=not at all, 10=very much). Thus, by analyzing
their microblogs (some of them personal, some educational, seen as e-portfolios or mixed) we
noticed that students responded differently to the introduction of the new technology in their
curriculum and encountered five types of learners:
The optimistic a small part, who used the platform exceedingly (7%).
The fascinated who tried to discover the way technology itself functions (and what it is
used for 25%).
The hostile restricted themselves to performing work tasks, any task being seen as an
effort, a loss of time (2%);
The skeptical always wanted to have solid arguments in favor of using such a technology
instead of a traditional LMS, such as Moodle (2%). From most of the times we received
questions like: Why do we have to do this on Cirip? Why is this a new learning
environment?
The daring students who understood that microblogging stimulates didactical activities, by
breaking the frameworks of a traditional e-learning education (34%).
Hence the necessity to get familiarized with the environment i.e. to acquire the working method
and to possess the working skills through a pre-instruction session (training) in order to be able to
use the microblogging platform as a LMS for disciplines other than the technical ones.
Related to pedagogical usability of the platform:
More than half of the students (56%) assessed it with the maximum rating
25% of students accepted Cirip as an environment for organizing the course preparation (for
learning and accomplishing learning objectives)
161

10% thought that motivation and interest for using a microblogging technology does not
depend however on the technology itself, but on the interest in examining more thoroughly
the studied discipline supported by Web2.0 technologies
Only 9% qualified negatively the platform, mostly those who used the environment only for
accomplishing course assignments.
In order to measure the skills (Trilling and Fadel, 2009) achieved by students we asked how the
microblogging platform helped to acquire new knowledge and ideas. To the question Did I learn
what I needed to, and did I get some new ideas?:
55% of the students said Cirip serves learning purposes,
35% that it helps them acquire and transfer knowledge and
only 10% (as a cumulative percentage) that it doesnt facilitate learning.
As for the utility of courses on a microblogging platform (Did my students learn something
during my course?), in relation to students real needs:
most of the students (39%) are of opinion that the activities developed are appropriate,
but the development of an efficient educational act with the help of this technology
implies direct experience and exercises (35%)
26% of the students consider that courses should be improved, supported by simulations
and practical accommodation exercises.
One of the investigated aspects to improve a curriculum structure based on microblogging
technology was also the effectiveness of the topics presented during the courses:
Thus, half of the students (43%) were satisfied with the course content,
while 24% were thrilled by the topics included.
It is encouraging that only 5% considered the course content technology-dominated,
without meeting the pedagogical objectives intended (4 students did not answer).
What we intended was not to present a definite and sterile classification of our students
learning styles, but only to find some landmarks, some useful references for developing new
competences and abilities to support the already acquired ones, which should assist the student in
finding his/her own learning style. Thus, it seems our data indicates that a technology-rich
environment leads to a bigger impact. More integrated technologies and applications, more
(learning) benefits. Table 10.2.2 presents how students appreciated and how they used during the
courses the special features of the platform, such as embedding multimedia objects in messages,
RSS feeds monitoring, advanced searches, visualizations, word clouds, statistics, polls and quizzes,
and live video.
Table 10.2.2. Uses of Cirip features
Web 2.0 applications used by students
Photos (flickr, picasa, albums, tinypic, any image or picture with
a CC license)
Videos (youtube, vimeo, dotsub etc.)
Audio (blipfm, deezer, vocaroo, eOK, trilulilu, any mp3 file)
Presentations and files (slideshare, voicethread, photopeach,
glogster, authorstream, prezi, Google Drive, Scribd, any online
file etc.)
RSS feeds
Searching (users, groups, events, text etc.)
Tagging (word clouds, statistics, visualizations etc.)
Polls / Quizzes / Surveys
Live Video / Streaming
Other

No.
122

%
72%

127
74
116

74%
44%
69%

33
53
32
61
48
2

20%
31%
19%
36%
28%
1%
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As for the utility of communication with other platform users, half of the students approve
that the access to information, without the mediation or the counseling of the teacher/facilitator is
benefic. Extended learning possibilities, without resorting to the discipline coordinator (by avoiding
academic language as well), implies also the presence of those elements which are often overlooked
when studying: the social specificity and the cultural context.
An important question for involving peers in user-content creation emphasized that the
communicative element is essential. Were students technologically savvy? Comfortable about
sharing information, knowledge, best practices in an open environment? 36% of the students state
they used the platform only for accomplishing the course assignments. The time spent on the
platform besides performing the educational assignments is 5 percentage points lower for the
students who stated they spend around one hour (18% half an hour and 14% almost an hour). By
analyzing the access differences for students stating they use Cirip more than an hour (32%), we
notice that the attention given to the platform comes from students who have blogs (19%) and
twitter accounts (20%).
Given that the use of mobile devices has not been foreseen in the curriculum from the
beginning, depending in fact on the students financial support (not all of them can afford an
Internet connection on the mobile phone for consulting educational resources or posting multimedia
objects etc.), we had to limit ourselves only to using SMS in order to integrate the educational
content in an e-learning environment supported by the microblogging technology. Thus, the extent
to which students are aware of the possibilities of using information/documentation, communication
and collaboration on the platform with the help of mobile devices, was aimed at directly by two
questions where students assessed on a 1-5 scale (1=not important, 5=useful): 46% appreciated
monitoring via free SMS as useful, while 19% found this feature not important.
These initiatives could prove crucial in the context of the 4A vision: Anywhere, Anytime,
by Anyone and Anything, and for becoming aware of the key element in the future of the
information society: the ubiquity of networks.
The key to success in using microblogging as a support technology is the students motivation
as well as teachers becoming aware of the relationship between the students, the technological
environment / platform and the proposed learning / education activities. We shouldnt reach the
situation when students feel disconcerted.

10.3. Study of Professional Development Impact

This study is connected with the one presented in Chapter 5 and part of our broader
approach regarding how researchers consume social media in general and microblogging in
particular. The overall aspects to be investigated are: social media impact on scholarly
communications and on researchers workflows; attitudes towards social media as a research tool /
technology and patterns of adoption; challenges, opportunities and trends as well as limits and
barriers of / to adoption and research good practices, techniques and policies. In this study we focus
on ways in which academics relate to microblogging, in particular with Cirip platform.
The role of using microblogging for educational purposes (in teaching and learning
processes or during different scientific events etc.) has been explored by numerous scholars
(Grosseck and Holotescu, 2008; Holotescu and Grosseck, 2009b). However, there is little consensus
within academic community that they could benefit from adopting the microblogging simplicity,
easy-to-use and functionality for scholarly purposes (Cann et al., 2011). Thus, although the majority
of the scientists avoid to use microblogging in their research activities (University College London
and Emerald Group study from 2010 indicated a 9.2 percent of academics that include
microblogging in their research), there are some who have found value in it (Bonetta, 2009).
However, recent studies (Mayernik and Pepe, 2009; Procter, R. et al., 2010a) suggest that
microblogging as part of the new reality media landscape (Gilpin, 2010) has the potential to
163

change the way researchers work, communicate and collaborate. Furthermore, through
microblogging they have a possibility to disseminate their findings more rapidly, broadly and
effectively than ever before (Ovadia, 2009), to use it for more serious tasks, often highly
productive and near to their academic / scientific profile / specialization or position (Priem and
Hemminger, 2010).
An example of microblogging role in all the phases of the research lifecycle is the CIBER
report (2010). Their findings suggest that microblogging supports from identifying research
opportunities to disseminating findings at the end, with greater impact on information sharing and
dissemination.
Popular microblogging services used in research are: Twitter, Friendfeed, Cirip or
ScienceFeed (http://www.sciencefeed.com). The last one is a microblogging platform dedicated to
the online scientific community acting as a bridge between online scientific networking platforms,
scientific databases and scientists from all over the world.
At the question of Mayernik and Pepe (2009) Can micro-blogging be used for field
research? we noticed in the literature some answers of the most frequent uses for different
research contexts such as the following:
a new form of scholarly communication (Collins and Hide, 2010): answer other
peoples questions or ask questions relevant to your practice (Costa, 2010; Costa,
2011), getting in touch with science journalists, science organizations or doctoral
students, get advice on how to improve research;
a new form of authoring, publishing, researching (Greenhow et al., 2009);
a tool for disseminating scientific information, including the own results (Moore, 2011);
a social collection to manage (Cann et al., 2011):
people (e.g. to follow list of researchers on Twitter)
messages (favorite notes, to resend / to comment - @ / RT; D for scholarship
authority or supporting critical discussions)
hashtags (social news, following scientific events) etc.;
a data repository to collect (Collins and Hide, 2010);
information from science newsfeeds and from various individuals / institutions;
links to other valuable resources;
a search tool more appropriate for capturing hyperrcurent information (Ovadia, 2009);
an outreach tool aimed at promoting public awareness (and understanding) of science and
making informal contributions to science education;
a platform for social micro-interactions to connect people (building personal relationship with
other researchers, co-colleagues) and also to engage in conversations with an active
community of scientists (Gilpin, 2010; Priem and Hemminger, 2010);
a way to track trends-in-time like natural disasters or political events, mentioned in messages
(Chew and Eysenbach, 2010);
a micro-peer method for learning, reviews, feedback etc.
Other studies suggest that the researchers behavior changed due to the social participatory
process in micro-sphere (Procter et al., 2010b) stressing the need to create an online research profile
on microblogging, what we called a scholarly identity 2.0.
In 2011, when this study was developed, even if Twitter celebrated five years, in Romania
microblogging started to attract users interest in 2008, only 15% of the accounts of the Romanian
Twittosphere being older than two years (ZeTweety, 2010). Since 2008, studies on microblogging
were published, projects related to this technology were implemented, also Cirip.eu - oriented on
education - and other microblogging platforms were launched (Grosseck and Holotescu, 2008;
Holotescu and Grosseck, 2009b).
For the purpose of this study, we tried to estimate the size of the Romanian edu164

microsphere, evaluating the total number of accounts and the number of educational accounts on the
most used microblogging platforms.
Table 10.3.1. Romanian edu-microsphere in 2011
Platform

Twitter

Total
number of
users
50000

Teachers /
Researchers
400

Cirip

18000
(130000
in Jan 2015)

250

Edmodo

200

30

Yammer

200

20

Plurk

500

30

Google Buzz
Identi.ca
Jaiku
Twiducate
Total

800
500
200
150
70000

100
50
30
30
1000

Doctoral
Estimation
/ Master
students
3000
Total number [ZeList.ro]; evaluation of
number of educational actors based on
study RoTwitterSurvey2010 (Zetweety,
2010), specific Twitter lists, searches
with twellow, tweepz.
600
Platform
statistics,
educational
microblogs, groups for conferences /
workshops / courses for Master students
/ teachers.
140
Literature referring to platform testing
was examined; also courses from
University of the West Timisoara are
hosted; private accounts.
10
Literature referring to platform testing
was examined (Ceuca, 2009).
40
Accounts from Romania found by
Google were examined, together with
followed and followers' microblogs.
100
Similar Plurk
50
Similar Plurk
20
Similar Plurk
100
Similar Edmodo
4000
Approximation by rounding

10.3.1. Study Methodology

For collecting the necessary information, we conducted a survey distributed online through
blogs, also tweets, private messages and messages to groups on microblogging platforms (Twitter,
Cirip, Identi.ca), messages on social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn), also via email academic lists
from different universities and professional groups. Our approach for the survey invitation was for
education in general and not specifically for research area, in order to avoid an over-representation
in the sample of the researchers a priori more interested in this technology. Thus, the target
population consists of faculty members, academic decision makers, administrative staff, technical
community, teachers, trainers and PhD candidates and master students from universities,
educational and other research institutions.
Data collecting was performed between 7 and 15 March 2011. A sample of 233 persons
resulted after validation, the value representing a percentage of 4.66% of the total of 5000
educational accounts, as resulted from the above estimation.

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10.3.2. Findings
Respondents Profile
Based on the findings obtained from the sample group well begin with a brief profile of
respondents. Who are they? By gender 123 are male (53%) and 110 female (47%). By age, as we
anticipated, the higher percent is allocated to the young population - two thirds (75%) having less
than 35 years. On junior positions in academia there are 19 percent and PhD candidates / master
students around 51 percent.
Table 10.3.2. Distribution of respondents by age
131 individuals (56%) were less than 25 years of age
44 (19%) are between 26-35 years
37 (16%) of them were between 36 and 45 years of age
19 (8%) are between 46-55 years and
only 2 of them were older than 55
The predominant positions in academic community that are using microblogging platforms
in their research belong to:
staff teaching: professor (associate, assistant), lecturer (senior, junior)
researchers: fellow, assistant, contract, seniors
students: doctoral (PhD candidates), master
faculty staff: librarians, administrators, trainers (online programs, adult education etc.)
others: experts, decision makers etc.

Figure 10.3.1. Respondents by academic position

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Figure 10.3.2. Microblogging platforms used by responders

Microblogging seems to be more popular for master (41% of responders) and doctoral
students (10%), junior researchers (9%), teachers (7%), and teaching assistants (8%).
Regarding the microblogging uses in research by discipline (percentages by area of
specializations), the dominated voice belongs to 58% of the respondents having a science
background education (math, physics, biology, computers, engineering etc.). Although the percent
of respondents from the humanity field and economics is less than 20% (19%), together with social
sciences responders are a small, but very influential audience.
The results obtained confirmed the findings of the RIN study (Procter et al., 2010a): how
researchers communicate their work varies in different subjects or disciplines.
This section highlighted only some descriptive statistics. Although demographic correlations
observed on demographic data base (such as a greater degree of adoption is positively associated
with younger age groups and with more junior positions or the older age group is more associated
with quality of being a scientist) are shaping the demand for microblogging as a research tool,
these issues will be addressed and detailed in a future research.
Microblogging Accounts Profile
A second group of questions collected data about the moment the responders started to
microblog, on which platforms, how often they post, how large are the networks developed, and
their presence on other social media.
The question How long have you been microblogging? is in closed relationship with
understanding the microblogging research community. Thus, the data obtained about microblogging
adoption behavior follow (in a certain way) the percentages of Rogers innovation types: 7% are
innovators (opened the first microblogging account more than 3 years ago), 11% are early adopters
(opinion leaders with accounts of 3 years old), 35% early majority (2 years), 29% late majority (one
year) and only 19% are laggards (accounts opened during the last 6 months).
The findings for the question What microblogging platforms do you use? (Figure 10.3.2)
show that Twitter, Cirip and Buzz from Google are the most popular. However there are several
academics that have more than one microblogging account. Pairs Twitter-Cirip and Twitter-Buzz are
the most dynamic (Buzz was discontinued by Google on December 15, 2011).
167

How often do you post notes / write on microblog?

The most active users write daily (15%), but almost half of the respondents (47%) say they
seldom send a note / message. However, it seems important for us to underline the fact that 23%
post weekly, which can reveal a lot about a possible habit of using the microblogging technology.
We hope that the rest of the respondents will become more engaged over time.

Figure 10.3.3. Followed users and followers

Analyzing the responses for the questions How many microblogging accounts do you
monitor? and How many followers do you have?, we observed that more than half of the
respondents follow and are followed by less than 50 users, which can suggest both a rigorous
selection of sources of information / communication, and a judicious use of time spent on
microblogging platforms. The fact that 11% of responders are followed by more than 500 users
demonstrates that a significant number of educational actors have imposed as strong voices in
microspheres, each one acting as indicator of social capital than followers count (Gilpin, 2010).
Table 10.3.3. How researchers are making use of languages

Only in Romanian
Only in English
Both in Romanian and English
In other languages (including Romanian)
Only in other languages

Number
60
20
144
7
2

Percent
26%
9%
62%
3%
1%

62 percent of the respondents prefer to write both in Romanian and in English, 26% only in
Romanian and 9% in English. We can assume that the quarter who write only in Romanian are
those responders who use microblogging only to work with the community inside their institutions
or from other Romanian institutions. Moreover, only a quarter said they use microblogging to
collaborate with colleagues abroad and for personal research, which justifies writing in languages
other than Romanian.
Did you get familiar with microblogging during a course / workshop or project?
The number of persons (50% - 116 persons) who declared themselves as self-taught about
the microblogging technology is equal with the number of those who participated in different
training social media programme (50% - 117 persons), such as university courses, dedicated
workshops etc. Most of the latest are teachers and master students who participated in courses and
workshops we facilitated on Cirip, microblogging being a topic in very few Romanian formal or
informal courses.
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Table 10.3.4. Social Media experience

Social Media Applications / Networks
Blog (any type of platform / Blogger, WordPress, weblog.ro etc.)
Miniblog (Tumblr, Posterous)
Social Networks (Facebook, LinkedIn etc.)
Image sharing (Flickr, deviantART etc.)
Video-Sharing (Youtube, Trilulilu etc.
Audio-Sharing (Blip.fm, Eok.ro etc.)
Social Bookmarking (delicious, diigo etc.)
Others

Number
102
21
200
107
161
37
109
37

Percent
44%
9%
86%
46%
69%
16%
47%
14%

Of all of respondents, 86% have a networking presence on sites like social networks
(Facebook) or professional networks (LinkedIn) and almost half (44%) have a blog (networks and
blogs being also important channels for research). We also tried to find out the correlation of using
microblogging with other social media tools by the same person. The data show that the most
frequent pairs are blogging - microblogging and social networking - microblogging and the least
used is microblogging - social bookmarking. Those academics who microblog are more likely to
engage in blogging and social networking activities.
Practices and reasons for microblogging usage in research
A breakdown of educational actors awareness of using microblogging by educational actors
in different activities is shown in the following table.
Table 10.3.5. Microblogging usages
Activities
didactical activities
research activities
professional development
personal development

Yes I have
used
45%
27%
51%
64%

Not yet, but Im aware of

it
21%
27%
22%
17%

No
34%
46%
27%
20%

The greatest and smallest percentages are for personal development, with 64 percent of
academics actively using microblogging in their own practice and 20% of the mainstream faculty
and academic decision makers who do not understand its purposes. Thus, awareness of using
microblogging for scholarly purposes confirm our expectations - no significant difference between
those who already used it for research (27%) and those who foresee themselves using
microblogging in the future (again 27%). However, the survey showed there is still a large group of
educators (46%) who believe that microblogging has no place in research: quite a few respondents
expressed a willingness to give microblogging a try (27%).

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Figure 10.3.4. Use of microblogging in research by different didactic profiles

We analyzed deeper the interest for using microblogging in research by different didactic
profiles, the result being represented as a spider diagram, where Interested means someone who
uses or intent to use microblogging in research. The highest percentages are registered by associated
professors and lectures (100%), also by doctoral students (94%), while the lowest interest is from
master students (35%) and librarians.
Which one of the following options best described your style of research working?
Regarding the mode of research work we see that there is a tendency to work with
colleagues outside the institution and even from abroad, as confirmed by the previous fact that a
high percentage of responders write in another language than Romanian.
Table 10.3.6. Mode of research work
I work with
Collaborators in different institutions from Romania
Collaborators in different institutions from other countries
Colleagues / peers across my department / faculty / university /
institutions
Students of my own department / faculty / university
I work on my own research or scholarship
Others

Number
79
63
54

Percent
34%
27%
23%

102
54
72

44%
23%
31%

Which of the following activities do you use in conjunction with microblogging?

The most common types of uses of microblogging by scholarly community that have been
revealed by our findings are included in the following table.
Table 10.3.7. Contextual conditions in which scholars use microblogging
Activities
Searching news, academic content
Dissemination of own results articles, projects, presentations
Inquiring (reviewing the literature, collecting and analyzing research
data)
Personal / Professional Communication / Collaboration
Networking for professional development
Building a community of practice

Number
130
110

Percent
56%
47%

51

22%

171
88
39

73%
38%
17%

170

Building a learning community with students enrolled in formal courses

Learning from the stream (following a specific hashtag) - participating /
following different scientific events (as a real time news-source)
Others

61

26%

95

41%

51

22%

The highest percentage of microblogging users (73%) manage and share certain personal
information with others, look for expertise on very specific questions or to support and be supported
by peers, while less than 20% (17%) were community of practice building oriented.
Overall, the findings indicate that microblogging is used by academics in different ways:
The search for scholarly content remains a favorite activity, 56% of academics are looking
to discover new information, ideas or practices. By looking for specific ideas the researcher
can scan easily the stream for news other than academic papers, science magazines, data
bases, scientific discoveries etc.
It seems that the use of microblogging as a dissemination channel for promoting of own
results / articles / projects or studies / formal products has a greater importance for 47% of
respondents.
22 percent say that microblogging is an important tool for reviewing the literature,
collecting and analyzing research data, for listening what other researchers are going to
say (Gilpin, 2010).
Talking and sharing experiences online, communicating scholarly ideas, collaboration
between colleagues, networks of stakeholders, and other contacts are favorite activities for
73% of academics.
Building a network of contacts for research opportunities, finding sponsors, reaching fellow
specialists was indicated by 38% of the responders. Thus the development of a Personal
Research Network (PRN) is appropriate not only for establishing professional expertise
but also for professional identity construction (Gilpin, 2010).
Only 17% of the respondents believe in the power of sharing, skills development or
knowledge creation by building a social scholarship (Greenhow et al., 2009; Costa, 2010;
Costa, 2011) in communities of practice.
A 26% percent shows a low participation within learning academic community, student
centered. Thus we can say faculty members are (still) unprepared to deal with incorporating
microblogging technologies into their courses.
Nowadays following conferences and posting from scientific events (with a special hashtag)
is a common practice. Thus, the usage for monitoring scientific events is encountered at 41%
of the respondents and may fall in one of the following categories: communication before,
during and after the event, using microblogging as official, quasi-official or unofficial backchannel, for collaborative keynotes, feedback etc.
An important percent (22%) say that they use microblogging for scholarly publishing and
capturing contextual information (Mayernik and Pepe, 2009).
The survey also included two open-ended questions, asking respondents to identify the
benefits and the most important barriers (and constraints) to uptake when using microblogging for
research activities; while more than half signaled advantages (52%), only 39% listed disadvantages.
The benefits expressed by participants can be clustered in the following types:
- Collective Intelligence: communication; collaboration with a wider audience of specialists,
sharing ideas and perspective, interdisciplinary research; collecting / surveying / filtering
data and resources.
- Ambient Intelligence: visibility and validation of projects, results, professional portfolio,
recognition.
- Extension of the PRN Personal Research Network: building and engaging (in) a relevant

171

community of scholars / of practice, beyond geographical, cultural and linguistic barriers;

mentoring colleagues; transfer of knowledge between researchers; help in problem solving;
build networks to support research (and researchers career); access to OERs and
collaborative applications.
- Managing the researchers projects: research publishing; tagging contents; getting notified
using RSS feeds.
- Developing as a researcher: improving digital and professional skills and competencies,
help for academic career.
Of the 233 respondents, 39% added comments highlighting disadvantages, barriers or limits
of integrated microblogging in education. Based on these responses, it appears that academics are
less open to trying Twitter or other microblogging platform in their research workflow. Overall,
most of the comments can be included into one of these categories:
- Ethical dilemmas: authority; coping with a large amount of information (Collins and Hide,
2010); the level of acceptability to collect, archive and analyze data from the stream
(Vieweg, 2010); authenticity of crowd sourced information (CIBER, 2010); intellectual
property rights; new forms of peer review and approval, such as retweeting (for e.g.
resending messages without giving credit); social citation sharing; trust (scientists are
hesitant to use the open Web as an incubator for ideas and would rather rely on a tight circle
of trusted individuals (Saunders et al., 2009)) etc.
- Concerns about Quality: quality of ideas / information / assurance (poor studies, no
substantial academic / scientific values; banality); drain on resources; too time consuming;
reliability and expertise of microbloggers; disorganized information (sometimes a chaotic
stream); common language (the human chemistry is all adrift); poor linguistic conventions
(for e.g. difficulty of writing a math formula); limited communication options (short
messages - only the length of a SMS); week feedback etc.
- Security and Privacy Concerns: information overload; noise; spam; juxtaposition with the
personal life; confusing in following too many interactions (Cann et al., 2011); uncertainty
of the identity of sender; plagiarism, lack of a code of microblogging ethics (Shepherd,
2009).
We intend to re-apply this survey according to some lessons learned. Thus, next studies
could include questions and issues which were not present in the current survey, in order to
establish a more specific edu-microblogger profile, such as:
the account is personal or official (an institution, a project, an educational marketing campaign
etc.)
public or private accounts
region or country of researcher (if part of the diaspora)
which information are included in the online profile (name, institution, blog, how username
was chosen)
duration of work in higher education
how microblogging platforms are accessed (online, by mobile devices, using mashups or thirdparty applications) and where from (home, institution)
number of messages, percentages which contain links/multimedia content, are addressed to
other users or are resent, etc.
Also, in near future we plan to examine closely various categories of educational microblogs
and to interview their authors on the following directions:
profile of the PLN members, what percentage belongs to educational, scientific domains
how the type and relevancy of posted information / resources influence the network size
which platforms are mostly used for research and why (patterns of adoption).
We also intend to collect case studies on using microblogging in research by actors in
172

different academic positions. Thus, after formalizing them as scenarios in the Learning Design
Group on Cirip, a guide of best practices could be obtained.
Completion period was extremely low, of only 10 days - maybe a longer period could lead
to more relevant results.
This is the first study trying to show if and how Romanian academics use microblogging for
teaching/research/personal development purposes and it is a part of our ongoing research about the
impact of the use of social media by academics for scholarly activities. The survey of Romanian
education professionals found that more than half of the 233 respondents who completed the survey
in March 2011 use or intend to use microblogging platforms for research. The sample cannot be
used to generalize the findings to the entire academics population (see lessons learned from above),
but it can be a starting point for future studies. We firmly believe that microblogging can help to
promote / support both teaching-learning process and research. The information sharing,
professional interaction (discussions, collaboration, peer feedback, support and participation),
visibility, recognition, public and community engagement transform scholarly communication in
new and provocative ways.

10.4. Conclusions
This chapter presents two surveys that were operated in order to assess the opinions of students
and teachers who have used the platform during courses and for professional/personal development.
The evaluation is part of the fourth DBR phase (Figure 2.3), the results being used for the
platform refinement.
10.4.1. Contributions
The study on the usages, challenges and policies regarding the integration of microblogging
in Romanian education, for teaching, learning and professional development is the original
contribution of this chapter, being the first with this topic in the country. The results were published
in (Grosseck and Holotescu, 2011).

173

Chapter 11. Conclusions and Future Work

In this thesis we have presented the design and implementation of an effective and innovative
learning environment, based on the identified emerging technologies, trends and theories in
education, which integrates social/informal learning in formal education.
The Cirip educational microblogging platform was developed using the Design Based Research
(DBR) methodology approach.
We have presented two extended literature research on Emerging Educational Technologies and
Microblogging, and their oportunities for Higher Education, proving that the topic of our work is
part of an actual trend in research and education.
Also the results of two studies, illustrating how the Romanian educational actors integrate
Emerging Educational Technologies and Microblogging in teaching/learning process, in research
and in personal development. At this moment all these studies are unique in Romania.
Based on the findings, on a comparison of Social Media platforms starting from a set of
functionalities and also on our extensive and long experience in working with and developing
educational platforms, we have defined the requirements of the Cirip educational microblogging
platform based on social objects, with many technical and educational innovations.
The design and architecture of the platform, together with its social mobile Learning
Management system features were presented.
A large diversity of formal and informal learning Case Studies and the platform evaluation
were the topics of the last chapters.

11.1. Original contributions

The original contributions of this thesis are presented in an extensive manner at the end of each
chapter. Here a syntesis of the main contributions is exposed:
1. Identification and analysis of the emerging technologies, trends and theories in education,
together with a proposed classification of Social Media platforms and applications. The findings
are presented in Chapter 3 and were published in (Grosseck and Holotescu, 2011a).
2. An analysis of the features, uses and architectures of educational microblogging platforms was
presented in Chapter 4 and published in (Holotescu and Creu, 2013).
3. Two studies on the usages, challenges and policies regarding the integration of emerging
technologies and microblogging in Romanian education, for teaching, learning and professional
development. The results are published in Chapter 5 and 10. The studies were the first with this
topic in Romania and were published in (Holotescu and Grosseck, 2012) and (Grosseck and
Holotescu, 2011).
4. A conceptual model for Open Learning Environments founded on the identified educational
technologies and theories was proposed in Chapter 3.

174

5. A model of Open Learning Environments based on microblogging technology was proposed in

Chapter 6; some results were published in (Holotescu and Creu, 2013).
6. This model was validated through designing, implementing and evaluating the Cirip educational
microblogging platform. The innovations brought by Cirip and presented in Chapter 8 and 9 are
summarized below, together with the corresponding articles:

private and public groups can host online courses, having the characteristics of LMSs
(Holotescu and Grosseck, 2009c; Grosseck and Holotescu, 2008);
provides unique features for mobile learning (Holotescu and Grosseck, 2011; Holotescu,
Creu and Grosseck, 2014);
integrates a large area of emerging educational technologies (Grosseck and Holotescu,
2010a);
captures and formally represents the new pedagogical approaches and scenarios as
learning design objects (Holotescu and Grosseck, 2010a);
defines and implements instruments for learning analytics and for assessing students
learning activities (Holotescu, Mioc and Grosseck, 2012; Grosseck and Holotescu,
2009);
is used in formal and informal learning contexts (Holotescu and Grosseck, 2009c;
Grosseck and Holotescu, 2010b; Grosseck and Holotescu, 2011c; Holotescu et al., 2012;
Holotescu et al., 2013; Holotescu et al., 2014a).

11.2. Dissemination, recognitions and awards

The research of seven years focused on Social Media, Microblogging, emerging technologies
and the doctoral program results were disseminated in:

more than 60 articles: 25 articles are ISI Proceedings (16 are indexed by Thompson Reuters
Web of Knowledge, while 9 are in course of indexing); also 5 articles are BDI indexed;

10 book chapters, presented in Annexes.

The platform has proved to be a viable solution for an open learning envronment integrating
new technologies. This is demonstrated by:
1.

the numerous number of courses, educational events and projects hosted on the platform:
Cirip is the first microblogging platform that hosted an online course, in the summer of
2008 (Holotescu and Grosseck, 2009c); also is the first microblogging platform that has
embedded multimedia objects and the only one with such a large area of objects, including
Learning Design objects (Holotescu and Grosseck, 2010; Grosseck and Holotescu, 2010a);

2.

an important number of users: over 125,000;

3.

the positive evaluation realized by students and teachers who have used the platform
during courses and for personal development, the results being the subject of the two
studies presented in Chapter 10;

4.

an important number of citations (over 520) of the articles we have published about the
microblogging technology and Cirip, that demonstrate the validity of the platform and also
the posibility to apply the findings/strategies in other different educational settings.

175

Other recognitions and awards are:

1.

The educational features of Cirip were firstly presented in the article (Grosseck and
Holotescu, 2008), being compared with those of Twitter. The article is considered one of
the most important in Microblogging in Education area, having more than 240 citations;

2.

The platform was presented at the First European Microblogging Conference in Hamburg,
in 2009;

3.

Cirip featured the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009 (position 67) ;

4.

Excellence prize at CNIV 2009, Iasi, for the article (Holotescu and Grosseck, 2009a);

5.

Cirip was Finalist at Seedcamp Zagreb, January 2010;

6.

Cirip was one of the 100 representative social networks worldwide analysed in the
CONSENT: Consumer sentiment regarding privacy on user generated content services in
the digital economy FP7 Project, 2012;

7.

The Cirip platform was nominated by UNESCO Romania for "UNESCO King Hamad Bin
Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of ICTs in Education" - April, 2012;

8.

Cirip is listed as a representative project on the OER Knowledge Cloud portal, an initiative
of the UNESCO/COL Chair in OER at Athabasca University and the UNESCO Chair in
OER at the Open University of the Netherlands since 2012;

9.

The team having as members Prof.Dr.Ing.Vladimir-Ioan Creu, Carmen Holotescu,

Gabriela Grosseck and Cristian Armeana was nominated for the "Innovative Education
Award", WCES 2013, for the research related to Cirip and Microblogging in education;

10.

For its openness towards Open Educational Resources and Open Educational Practices,
Cirip is listed on the Map of Open Education Initiatives created by the POERUP Policies for OER Uptake European Project, 2014.

11.3. Future work

New features and case studies will be designed, implemented and tested in the next months on
the Cirip platform:
1.

Testing and consolidation of the MOOC features after designing and running a MOOC
(Massive Open Online Course) related to OER and MOOC;

2.

Updating / enlarging the typology of social (multimedia) objects embedded on the

platform - based on the platforms evolution/modifications and on the results of the Top
100 Tools for Learning 2014 (Hart, 2014);

3.

A directory of (little) OERs (Open Educational Resources) (collaboratively) created on the

networks connected with Cirip to be listed in users profile;

4.

Integrating the Learning Analytics for Cirip courses with existing institutional metrics and
reporting mechanisms and standards (IMS Caliper - Learning Measurement Framework)
in a joint project with a research team from Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy;

5.

Improving user experience: new layout, make more transparent the embedding of social
(multimedia) objects, lowering access time.

176

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Appendix: Publications and Projects

a. Articles
ISI Proceedings
1. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2009). Using Microblogging to Deliver
Online Courses. Case-study: Cirip.ro. World Conference on Educational Sciences,
Nicosia, North Cyprus, 4-7 February 2009 - New Trends and Issues in Educational
Sciences, Edited by Huseyin Uzunboylu and Nadire Cavus, vol. I, Procedia Social and
Behavioral Sciences, Elsevier, 2009, pag. 495-591, ISSN: 1877-0428;
2. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2010a). Learning to microblog and
microblogging to learn. A case study on learning scenarios in a microblogging
context. Conference Proceedings of "eLearning and Software for Education", April
2010, issue: 01/2010, pages: 365-374;
3. Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu. (2010a). Microblogging multimedia-based
teaching methods best practices with Cirip.eu . World Conference on Educational
Sciences, Istanbul, Turcia, 4-8 February 2010 - Procedia - Social and Behavioral
Sciences - Innovation and Creativity in Education, WCES 2010, Volume 2, Issue 2,
2010, pages 2151-2155, published by Elsevier Ltd., ISSN: 1877-0428;
4. Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu. (2010b). Learning from the Stream. An "M"
Case Study: M for microblogging, my-conference/my event and micro/my learning.
Proceedings of ICVL 2010, The 5th International Conference on Virtual Learning,
Virtual Learning Virtual Reality, pp. 172-178, Targu-Mures, Romania;
5. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2010b). Tracing learning through spectrum of
conversations. A microblogging approach to students' experience on learning and
research. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, World Conference on learning
teaching and administration, 29-31 October 2010, The American University Cairo
Egipt (WCLTA 2010);
6. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2011). Mobile learning through
microblogging. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, Volume 15, 2011, Pages 48, 3rd World Conference on Educational Sciences 2011 (WCES 2011);
7. Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu. (2011a). Academic Research in 140 characters
or less. Conference proceedings of "eLearning and Software for Education"
Bucharest,28-29 April 2011, vol.2/2011, ISSN 2066-026X;
8. Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu. (2011b). Understanding (the use of)
microblogging as a virtual environment for teaching and learning in academic
courses. The 6th International Conference on Virtual Learning, NEW
TECHNOLOGIES IN EDUCATION AND RESEARCH, 28-29 Octombrie 2011,
Cluj-Napoca, Romania;
9. Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu. (2011c). Teacher education in 140 characters microblogging implications for continuous education, training, learning and personal
development. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol.11, 2011, Teachers for
the Knowledge Society, pag.160-164, The First International Conference "Teachers for
the Knowledge Society, 17-19 March, 2011 Sinaia Romania, ISSN: 1877-0428;

203

10. Marius Clin Popoiu, Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu. (2012). What do we
know about the use of social media in medical education?. 4th WORLD
CONFERENCE ON EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES (WCES-2012) 02-05 February
2012 Barcelona, Spain. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, Volume 46, 2012,
Pages 22622266;
11. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2012). An empirical analysis of the
educational effects of Social Media in universities and colleges. The 8th International
Scientific Conference eLearning and software for Education Bucharest, April 26-27,
2012, ISSN 2066-026X;
12. Carmen Holotescu, Liliana Cismariu, Maria Fernanda Spina, Gabriela Grosseck,
Antoanela Naaji, Mugurel Dragomir. (2012). Identifying and preventing educators'
burnout using a microblogging community. 3rd World Conference on Psychology.
Counselling and Guidance (WCPCG-2012), Izmir, Turkey, 9-12 May 2012. ProcediaSocial and Behavioral Journal, ISSN: 1877-0428;
13. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck, Elena Danciu. (2013). Educational digital
stories in 140 characters: towards a typology of micro-blog storytelling in academic
courses. 5th World Conference on Educational Sciences, 05-08 February 2013,
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy;
14. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck, Malinka Ivanova, Vladimir Creu. (2013a).
Educational Augmented Reality and Location-Based Applications. Case Study:
Microblogging. Proceedings of the International Conference SMART 2013 - Social
Media in Academia: Research and Teaching, June 6-9, Bacau, Romania, edited by
Bogdan Patrut, Medimond - Monduzzi Editore International Proceedings Division,
Bologna, Italy, ISBN 9788875876869;
15. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck, Vladimir Creu. (2013b). MOOC's Anatomy.
Microblogging as the MOOC's Control Center. The 9th eLearning and Software for
Education Conference - eLSE 2013, Bucharest, April 25-26;
16. Carmen Holotescu, Vladimir Creu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2014). Microblogging
architecture and scenarios for learning in mobile groups. Procedia - Social and
Behavioral Sciences, Volume 143, 14 August 2014, Pages 11581163. 3rd Cyprus
International Conference on Educational Research, CY-ICER 2014, 30 January 1
February 2014, Lefkosa, North Cyprus;
17. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck, Vladimir Creu, Elena Danciu. (2014). The
power of the three words and one acronym: OER vs OER. Subtitle: Im not an Ogre of
the Enchanted Realm (of cyberspace). Im an Omnipresent Educational Rescuer
(because I use the OER!). 6th World Conference on Educational Sciences (WCES),
Malta, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences Elsevier ScienceDirect, ISSN 18770428; (not indexed yet);
18. Gabriela Grosseck, Malinka Ivanova, Carmen Holotescu, Laura Malita. (2014).
Massive Open Online Courses as e-Bricks for Smart Cities. 10th International
Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education, Bucharest, ROMANIA,
ISSN 2066 - 026X; (not indexed yet);
19. Malinka Ivanova, Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu. (2014). Open Educational
Resources - How open they are?. 10th International Scientific Conference eLearning
and Software for Education, Bucharest, ROMANIA, ISSN 2066 - 026X; (not indexed
yet);

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20. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck, Vladimir Creu, Antoanela Naaji. (2014).
Integrating MOOCs in Blended Courses. 10th International Scientific Conference
eLearning and Software for Education, Bucharest, ROMANIA, ISSN 2066 - 026X;
(not indexed yet);
21. Radu Vasiu, Diana Andone, Mugur Mocofan, Carmen Holotescu. (2014). Using
Web2.0 for higher education teacher training in Romania. Proceedings of the
International Conference SMART 2014 - Social Media in Academia: Research and
Teaching, Sept, Timisoara, Romania; (not indexed yet);
22. Carmen Holotescu, Maria Perifanou, Diana Andone, Gabriela Grosseck. (2014).
Exploring OERs and MOOCs for Learning of EU Languages. Proceedings of the
International Conference SMART 2014 - Social Media in Academia: Research and
Teaching, Sept, Timisoara, Romania; (not indexed yet);
23. Carmen Holotescu, Giles Pepler. (2014). Opening up education in Romania.
Proceedings of the International Conference SMART 2014 - Social Media in
Academia: Research and Teaching, Sept, Timisoara, Romania; (not indexed yet);
24. Gabriela Grosseck, Mar Camacho, Malinka Ivanova, Carmen Holotescu, Maria
Perifanou, Laurentiu Tiru, Ramona Bran. (2015). Is Higher Education in danger? An
empirical analysis of digital perils in the Aula. 11th International Scientific Conference
eLearning and Software for Education, Bucharest, ROMANIA, April 2015; (accepted
for publication);
25. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck, Vladimir Creu, Liliana Cismariu. (2015).
Working with Visual Impairment in Romanian universities. Designing for Social Media
empowerment. 7th World Conference on Educational Sciences (WCES), Athens,
Greece, February 2015; (accepted for publication);
BDI
1. Gran Karlsson, Margareta Hellstrm, Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck, Roza
Dumbraveanu. (2011). Are We Ready to Move Towards a New Type of Teacher
Training? Case Study: The WETEN Project. The Third International Conference on
Mobile, Hybrid, and On-line Learning, eL&mL 2011, February 23-28, 2011 - Gosier,
Guadeloupe, France, ISBN: 978-1-61208-003-1. Scopus;
2. Gabriela-Alina Dumitrel, Teodor Todinca, Carmen Holotescu, Cosmina-Mariana
Militaru. (2011). Computational Tool for Techno-Economical Evaluation of
Steam/Oxygen Fluidized Bed Biomass Gasification Technologies. WASET 2011
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, Venice, Italy, April 27-29, 2011, ISSN 2010376X. Scopus;
3. Carmen Holotescu, Dorina Gutu, Gabriela Grosseck, Mona Bran. (2011).
Microblogging meets Politics: The Influence if Communication in 140 Characters on
Romanian Presidential Elections. In Romanian Journal of Communication and Public
Relations, vol.13 , no.1(21), pag.37-47, ISSN 1454-8100. EBSCO, ProQuest, B+;
4. Malinka Ivanova, Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2014). Multimedia,
Hypermedia and Transmedia in Support of Learning. The 5th International Workshop
on Interactive Environments and Emerging Technologies for eLearning, Birmingham
City University, July 2-4, 2014; IEEE;

205

5. Diana Andone, Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2014). Learning Communities

in Smart Cities. Case Studies. DUBAI 2020: Smart City Learning Workshop
Proceedings, Nov, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. IEEE;
International Journals
1. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2011). M3-learning - Exploring mobile
multimedia microblogging learning. World Journal on Educational Technology, Vol. 3,
3, 9, ISSN 1309-1506;
2. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck,. (2011). Cirip.eu An Educational
Microblogging Platform around Objects 2.0. Formare Erikson, nr.74, ISSN: 18257321;
International Conferences Proceedings
1. Dan Pescaru, Carmen Holotescu. (2002). Authentication in an Online Learning
Environment:
A Case Study. Proceedings RoEduNet Conference Cluj 2002;
2. Carmen Holotescu. (2003). A Program for eLearning Facilitators. 2nd International
GIREP Seminar, Sept. 2003, Udine, Italy, pg. 155-160;
3. Carmen Holotescu. (2004). A Program for Training the eTrainers. Proceedings of the
6th International Conference on Technical Informatic, CONTI2004, Timisoara, May
2004;
4. Carmen Holotescu. (2005). eLearning for Managers. Proceedings of E-COMM-LINE
2005, Sept, 2005, Bucharest, Romania;
5. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2007). Dezvoltarea competenelor digitale n
contextul tehnologiilor/ oportunitilor Web 2. 0. International Conference Promoting
Key Competences in formal and nonformal education the way to assuring professional
and personal success in the European Knowledge Based Society, Info-Project
International Center for Self Education and Training, Baia Mare, 25-27 mai, pag. 1723/2007, http://www. infoproject.baiamare.rdsnet.ro/Volum_2007.pdf, ISBN 978-97388154-8-3;
6. Carmen Holotescu, Christine Nena Karagianni, Spyros Papadakis, Gabriela Grosseck.
(2007). A Methodology for Developing Blended Courses Integrated With Web2. 0
Technologies. The 8th European Conference E-COMM-LINE 2007, 20-22 sept. IPA
Publishing House Bucureti, ISBN 13: 978-973-88046-6-1, ISBN10: 973-88046-6-3;
7. Vegard Engstrom, Leopold Mathelitsch, Wim Peeters, Francisco Esquembre, Marisa
Michelini, Grzegorz Karwasz, Carmen Holotescu, Gren Ireson. (2007). Teacher
training of pupil-active learning in superconductivity and electromagnetizm with
interactive animations, simulations, scenarios and minds-on simple experiments.
GIREP - EPEC Conference Frontiers of Physics Education, 26-31 August. 2007,
Opatija, Croazia, Faculty of Arts and Science, University of Rijeka, 2007, p 81;
8. Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu. (2008). Can we use Twitter in educational
activities?. The 4th International Scientific Conference e-Learning and Software for
education (eLSE08);

206

9. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2008). Serious Fun in education: using

microblogging. Proceedings of the XIVth International Conference Knowledge Based
Organization, Academia de Forte Terestre N. Balcescu, Sibiu, 27-29 nov. 2008,
page 95-102, ISBN 1843 6722;
10. Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu. (2008). Is there educational blogging in
Romania?. Second International Communication Conference 8-10 mai Skopje,
Macedonia, Glocal 2. 0 Blogging Evolution treated as Revolution, New York
University Skopje, Macedonia, http://glocalconference.wordpress.com;
11. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2009). Using Microblogging For
Collaborative Learning. Volume New Technology Platforms for Learning
Revisited. LOGOS Open Conference on strengthening the integration of ICT research
effort, 19-20 Jan. 2009 Budapest, Hungary, EDEN - European Distance and Elearning Network, p. 71-80, ISBN 978-963-87914-1-2;
12. Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu. (2009). Indicators for the analysis of learning
and practice communities from the perspective of microblogging as a provocative
sociolect in virtual space. The 5th International Scientific Conference eLSE eLearning and Software for Education, Bucharest, 9-10 April 2009;
13. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2009). Using microblogging in education.
Case Study: Cirip.ro. Proceedings 6th Conference on e-Learning Applications,
"Explore, Share and Stimulate Research in e-Learning Applications", American
University, Cairo, 10-12 January, 2009;
14. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2009). How to use microblogging platforms in
education. Proceedings ICL Conference, Villach Austria, 23 sept, 2009;
15. Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu. (2010). Using Microblogging in Education.
Proceedings Plymouth e-Learning Conference, April 8-9, 2010;
16. Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu. (2010). Anagramming PLE: Empowering
Professional Learning through microblogging. The 1st PLE Conference, Barcelona,
Spain, 8-9 July, 2010, ISSN 2077-9119;
17. Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu. (2010). Microblogging meets Personal
Learning Environment - a study case. Proceedings of the International Conference
Education Facing Contemporary World Issues, EDUWORLD 2010, University of
Pitesti, Romania 8-9 October, 2010, Pitesti, Romania, ISSN 1844-6272;
18. Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu. (2011). Sometimes going to university takes
only 140 characters. E-book Madhouse of Ideas. The twitter experience. NovadorEdiciones. http://madhouseofideas.org/?page_id=378;
19. Carmen Holotescu, Mirella Mioc, Gabriela Grosseck. (2012). Assessment in
Microblogging Enhanced Courses. 11th WSEAS International Conference on DATA
NETWORKS, COMMUNICATIONS, COMPUTERS (DNCOCO '12), Sliema, Malta,
Sept 7-9 2012;
20. Malinka Ivanova, Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu. (2012). Analysis of Personal
Learning Networks in Support of Teachers Presence Optimization. PLE Conference,
Aveiro Portugal, July 11-13, 2012;

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21. Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu, Elena Liliana Danciu. (2012). Violence 2.0: A
Review Of Social Media-Based Violence Experiences Among Teens. SPECTO 20123rd International Conference Social Work Perspective of Quasi-Coercive Treatment of
Offenders "VIOLENCE AMONG ADOLESCENTS", UVT Timisoara,May, 2012;
22. Antoanela Naaji, Anca Mustea, Carmen Holotescu, Cosmin Herman. (2014). Aspects
regarding the relevant components of online and blended courses. 8th International
Conference on Circuits, Systems, Communications and Computers, ISBN 960-805282-3.
National Conferences / Journals
1. Carmen Holotescu. (2003). Cursuri online in Invatamantul Superior de Calculatoare.
Conference "Educational Technologies in Engineering Higher Education", UPB, 2003,
Bucuresti;
2. Carmen Holotescu. (2003). eLearning at Timsoft. Tehnology and Education,
Bulletin of Laboratory for IT, nr. 2. , June 2003;
3. Carmen Holotescu. (2004). Cursuri online in universitati. Strategii de facilitare.
Sesiune de Comunicari Stiintifice: Eficienta si calitate in Invatamantul Superior
Sibiu, iunie 2004, pg. 66-72;
4. Carmen Holotescu. (2005). O analiza a blogosferei romanesti. Lucrarile Seminarului
Linux si medii virtuale de instruire, UVVG Arad, Sept, 2005
5. Carmen Holotescu. (2007). Avantajele utilizrii resurselor educaionale deschise.
Studia Universitatis Vasile Goldi Arad, pg 103-106, vol 16, cod CNCIS 438 (cat. C);
6. Carmen Holotescu. (2007). Despre RSS. Utilizari in educatie. Revista de Informatica
Sociala, UVT, anul IV, nr. 7, iunie 2007. ISSN 1584-384X;
7. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2008). Posibiliti de utilizare a sistemelor de
microblogging n educaie. Studia Universitatis Vasile Goldi Arad, 2007, pg,46-54,
vol 17, cod CNCIS 438 (cat. C). ISSN: 1584-2355;
8. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2009). Multimedia si microblogging prin
cirip.ro. International Conference Directii si strategii moderne de formare si
perfectionare in domeniul resurselor umane, Bucuresti, 21 nov. 2009, DPPD,
University Politehnica Bucuresti, ISSN 2067 1024;
9. Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu. (2009). Romanian Micro-Social Media
Platform. A Study Case for cirip.ro. Journal of Social Informatics no. 12/dec 2009,
ISSN 1584-384X;
10. Teodor Todinca, Alina Dumitrel, Carmen Holotescu. (2009). Software tools for the
modelling and simualtion of biomass gasification processes. Volum Zilele Academice
Timisene;
11. Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu. (2010). Microblogul ca interfa a
interaciunilor sociale. Studiu de caz: Revoluia din 1989. In volume Conferinta
anual a cercetrii sociologice si de asistent social, 2010, Bucuresti, Facultatea de
Sociologie si Asisten;
12. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck, Ramona Bran, Dorina Gutu. (2010). The
Influence Of Communication In 140 Characters On Romanian Presidential Elections.
Revista de Informatica Sociala nr. 13 /dec. 2010, pag. 31-42, ISSN 1584-384X;

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b. Books/Chapters
1. Carmen Holotescu. (2004). eLearning Guide. Solness Timisoara, 2004;
2. Carmen Holotescu, Antoanela Naaji. (2007). Tehnologii Web. Vasile Goldis University
Press, Arad, 2007;
3. Anita Pincas, Carmen Holotescu, Elisa Manzi. (2007). Guidelines for e-tutors.
Published in the ELF - E-Learning Facilitators: analyses of their different roles within
different methodologies and approaches Project, 2007;
4. Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu. (2011). Social Media Challenges for
Academia. Chapter in the book Contemporary Issues in Education and Social
Communication, Martin Meidenbauer Verlagsbuchhandlung, Mnchen, ISBN ISBN
978-3-86924-156-2 2011;
5. Felicia Banu, Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck, Igor Sevcenco. (2011).
Evaluarea calitatii predarii si invatarii in invatamantul superior. Tipografia
Centrografic, Chisinau, Moldova, ISBN 978-9975-914-70-3 2011;
6. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2012). Microblogging in Education. Chapter
in the book Global Elearning published by Madrid Open University 2012, ISBN
978-84-454-2218-2;
7. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2012). Scenarios for integrating Social Media
in Education. Chapter in the book Global Elearning published by Madrid Open
University 2012, ISBN 978-84-454-2218-2;
8. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2012). Learning from the stream. Chapter in
the book Global Elearning published by Madrid Open University 2012, ISBN 97884-454-2218-2;
9. Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu, Bogdan Patrut. (2013). Academic Perspectives
on Microblogging. Chapter in the book Social Media and the New Academic
Environment: Pedagogical Challenges, IGI Global Publishing House USA 2013;
10. Carmen Holotescu, Vladimir Creu. (2013). Microblogging Platforms in Education:
Features, Usages and Arhitectures. In "Microblogging in Educational Settings. How
Microblogging Platforms can be used in Formal and Informal Education". Editors:
Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck, Antonio Calvani, Filippo Bruni; AVM
Akademische Verlagsgemeinschaft Mnchen 2013 Thomas Martin
Verlagsgesellschaft, Mnchen, ISBN: 978-3-86924-498-3,
http://www.amazon.de/Microblogging-Educational-Settings-PlatformsEducation/dp/3869244984;
11. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2013). Cirip.eu An Educational Mobile
Multimedia Microblogging Platform. In "Microblogging in Educational Settings. How
Microblogging Platforms can be used in Formal and Informal Education". Editors:
Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck, Antonio Calvani, Filippo Bruni; AVM
Akademische Verlagsgemeinschaft Mnchen 2013 Thomas Martin
Verlagsgesellschaft, Mnchen, ISBN: 978-3-86924-498-3,
http://www.amazon.de/Microblogging-Educational-Settings-PlatformsEducation/dp/3869244984;

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12. Gabriela Grosseck, Carmen Holotescu. (2013a). Scholarly Digital Curation in 140
Characters. In "Applied Social Sciences: Education Sciences". Book printed by
Cambridge Scholars Publishing http://www.amazon.de/Applied-Social-SciencesEducation/dp/144384246X;
13. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2014). Evaluare 2.0: abordri conceptuale. In
Repere orientative n evaluare. Editura de Vest, 2014;
14. Antoanela Naaji, Anca Mustea, Carmen Holotescu, Cosmin Herman. (2015). How to
Mix the Ingredients for a Blended Course Recipe. In "Social Media and Open
Education". Editors: Bogdan Patrut, Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck, Diana
Andone. Springer.

c. Research studies/Reports
1. Carmen Holotescu, Jane Knight. (2002a). Online Communities - eWorkshop Notes.
eLearning eJournal;
2. Carmen Holotescu, Jane Knight (2002b). Methodologies in e-Learning - eWorkshop
Notes. eLearning eJournal;
3. Carmen Holotescu. (2007). Technical Requirements for Educational Software. Report
in the Knowledge Economy Project;
4. Seppo Tella, Carmen Holotescu. (2007). Analysis of the current situation of the use of
ICT in Romanian schools. Recommandations. Report in the Knowledge Economy
Project;
5. Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck. (2007). Using Web2.0 Technologies in Blended
Courses. Report in the OBELFA: Open BlendEd Learning For Adults Project;
6. Carmen Holotescu. (2007). Handbook for training E-tutors trainers. Published in the
ELF - E-Learning Facilitators: analyses of their different roles within different
methodologies and approaches Project;
7. Carmen Holotescu, Cristian Manafu. (2007-2009). O analiza a blogosferei romanesti
bazata pe RoBloggers Survey. eLearning eJournal;
8. Carmen Holotescu. (2012, updated in 2014). Open Educational Resources in
Romania. Report in the POERUP: Policies for OER Uptake, EU Lifelong Learning
Programme Project. http://poerup.referata.com/wiki/Romania;
9. Valentina Pavel Burloiu, Teodor Chirvase, Bogdan Manolea, Ovidiu Voicu, Andra
Bucur, Nicolaie Constantinescu, Carmen Holotescu. (2014). Ghid de bune practici
Resurse Educaionale Deschise (RED). Creative Commons Affiliate Projects 2013.

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d. Projects
1. Career Orientation and Counseling; Phare Project, 2003; Coordinator: Center
Education 2000+ Bucharest, Romania ; Role: Partner;
2. eLearning for Managers; Phare Project, 2003-2004; Coordinator: Expert Consulting
SRL, Timisoara, Romania; Role: Partner;
3. Superconductivity Multimedia Educational Tool phase 2 for the continuing vocational
training of upper secondary school physics teachers; Leonardo da Vinci,
N/04/B/PP/165.008, 2004-2007; Coordinator: Simplicatus, Norway; Role: National
Coordinator;
4. Defeminization of Poverty: The Balkans/Asia Minor E-Entrepreneur Development
Project; Leonardo da Vinci, TR/05/B/F/PP/178.057, 2005-2007; Coordinator:
Kavrakoglu Consulting and Training, Turkey; Role: National Coordinator;
5. OBELFA: Open BlendEd Learning For Adults; Grundtvig I, 225880 - CP -1-2005-1TR - GRUNDTVIG - G1PP, 2005-2007; Coordinator: Ankara University, Cankiri
College, Turkey; Role: National Coordinator;
6. ELF - E-Learning Facilitators: analyses of their different roles within different
methodologies and approaches; Leonardo da Vinci I/05/B/F/PP-154178, 2005-2007;
Coordinator: Dipartimento di Filosofia A. Aliotta Universit degli Studi di Napoli,
Italy; Role: National Coordinator;
7. HeLPS. - High e-Learning Professional Skills; Leonardo da VinciI/04/B/F/PP-154112,
2005-2007; Coordinator: Istituto Tecnico Industriale F.Giordani, Napoli, Italy; Role:
Consultant;
8. Development of Education Policy Concerning the Integration of Information
Technology and Communications in the Pre-University Romanian Education System;
Knowledge Economy Project, 2007; Coordinator: Finnish Consulting Group, Finland;
Role: Consultant;
9. 3L Welfare: Lifelong Learning & Welfare Policies, good practices and innovative
processes for training, guidance, employment and social inclusion: comparing the
Danish, French, Spanish and Italian experiences; Programme of Government of the
Province of Naples, 2007-2009; Coordinator: Dipartimento di Filosofia A. Aliotta
Universit degli Studi di Napoli, Italy; Role: National Coordinator;
10. WETEN - Western-Eastern Teacher Education Network; TEMPUS Project, 2009-2011;
Coordinator: Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania; Role: National
Coordinator;
11. UNIQUE Integration of particulate abatement, removal of trace elements and tar
reforming in one biomass steam gasification reactor yielding high purity syngas for
efficient CHP and power plants; FP7 Project, 2008-2011; Coordinator: University of
LAquila, Italy; Role: Researcher;
12. DidaTEC: University school for initial and continuos training of teaching staff in
technical and engineering domains; POS-DRU AP 1, 2010-2013; Coordinator:
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Role: Expert;
13. Estart: Master Program in eActivities; POSDRU/86/1.2/S/54956, 2012-2013;
Coordinator: Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Role: Course Tutor;

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14. SUTRA: SUpporting TRAiners working with people with mental/cognitive difficulties;
GRU-11-P-LP-28-TM-IT, 2011-2013; Coordinator: Dipartimento di Filosofia A.
Aliotta Universit degli Studi di Napoli, Italy; Role: National Coordinator;
15. IN-SIGHT: INformal learning pathways for supporting elder to see beyond SIGHT;
GRU-12-P-LP-163-TM-IT; 2012-2014; Coordinator: Associazione U.N.I.Vo.C. di
Napoli, Italy; Role: National Coordinator;
16. VIP: Vocational training In Prison; GRU-12-P-LP-9-TM-IT; 2012-2014; Coordinator:
Cooperative Lazzarelle, Napoli, Italy; Role: Researcher;
17. POERUP: Policies for Open Educational Resources Uptake; Lifelong Learning
Programme under Key Activity 3 ICT; 2011-2014; Coordinator: Sero Consulting Ltd,
London, UK; Role: Consultant.

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e. Citations
Over 520 citations: indexed by Google Scholar at
http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=CoMEtL4AAAAJ&hl=en.

213